Chicory root

The taproot of Cichorium intybus, the blue-flowered roadside plant, roasted for centuries as a coffee substitute. Inulin makes up something like 44 to 68 per cent of the dry root depending on cultivar and growing conditions; among the rest are the bitter guaianolide sesquiterpene lactones lactucin, lactucopicrin and 8-deoxylactucin.

Two different mechanisms, and it matters a great deal which one you mean. The fibre, inulin, is a chain of fructose units joined by beta(2-1) bonds that human digestive enzymes cannot break, so it reaches the colon intact and is fermented by gut bacteria into short-chain fatty acids; the extra bacterial mass and retained water soften stool and raise frequency. That is the prebiotic story and it needs grams. The bitter story is separate: lactucin and lactucopicrin act on bitter receptors on the tongue, and bitter taste is the traditional trigger for digestive secretions. Europe's assessors also cited a rat study in which a water extract of roasted chicory root increased bile flow, at 750 to 1,250 mg per kilogram of body weight given into the duodenum. That is an animal bench finding at a dose no strip approaches, and at 15 mg the only mechanism reliably in play is the taste.

Traditionally used for the relief of mild digestive symptoms such as a feeling of fullness, flatulence and slow digestion, and for temporary loss of appetite. Its extracted fibre, chicory inulin, is an established prebiotic studied for stool frequency.

Men who want the traditional bitter botanical in an evening strip and know what it is. Not for anyone allergic to ragweed, chamomile, daisy or other Asteraceae plants; not for anyone pregnant or breastfeeding; not for under-12s. Anyone genuinely after the fibre effect should be taking chicory inulin in grams, not this.

One strip at the end of the evening, dissolved on the tongue. Bitters are traditionally taken before or around food rather than long after it, which is worth knowing if the tradition is why you are interested. Nothing needs separating from it: the EU monograph records no reported interactions for chicory root.

Nothing you will notice. At 15 mg there is no fibre effect, no bowel effect and no timeline to judge. The one honest sensory note is a faint bitterness, which is the plant, and it is gone inside a minute.

The EU authorised the claim that chicory inulin contributes to the maintenance of normal defecation by increasing stool frequency, following EFSA's 2015 opinion, with conditions of use of 12 g a day of native chicory inulin. Micka and colleagues (International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 2017) ran a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial in 44 healthy adults with constipation: 3 x 4 g a day of chicory inulin for four weeks gave a median stool frequency of 4.0 a week against 3.0 on maltodextrin placebo (p = 0.038). The bitter use rests on the EU herbal monograph on Cichorium intybus L., radix (EMA/HMPC/121816/2010), which grants traditional-use status only, for the relief of symptoms of mild digestive disorders and temporary loss of appetite, at 2-4 g of comminuted root in 250 ml as an infusion or decoction once daily, and which records no known undesirable effects and no reported interactions. The accompanying assessment report (EMA/HMPC/113041/2010) retrieved only two clinical studies of chicory root itself, both pilots, and judged them insufficient for a well-established use indication; it recommended against an EU list entry because adequate safety data were lacking. Hepatoprotective work on chicory is entirely preclinical, in rat and mouse models of chemically induced liver injury. Not supported: any human liver outcome, any digestive outcome at milligram amounts, and any role in alcohol.