Polydextrose

Polydextrose is notable for FODMAPs, oligosaccharides and nickel. Clear on lactose, histamine, gluten, fructose, sorbitol, sucrose, tyramine, salicylate and oxalates.

Yes — Polydextrose is high in FODMAPs. Polydextrose is a synthetic glucose polymer built deliberately so that human enzymes cannot break it down - which is the definition of a fermentable fibre. It is added to lower the sugar and raise the fibre on a label, and it does both, at the cost of everything it feeds in the colon. Chain length is not the criterion: inulin runs to about sixty units and still counts as a FODMAP, because it ferments.

Polydextrose contains moderate levels of oligosaccharides. Polydextrose is glucose polymerised at random into chains of every length, and the short end of that distribution falls squarely in the oligosaccharide range. The random branching is the point: no human enzyme recognises it, so it passes to the colon whole.

Polydextrose contains only low levels of nickel. Polydextrose carries a trace of nickel for a reason written into the law that governs it. E 1200 is made by CATALYTIC HYDROGENATION and the catalyst is nickel - the regulation says so in its own text - so its purity criteria carry a nickel limit of 2 mg/kg for hydrogenated polydextroses. That is a legal CEILING and not a content: what a given batch actually holds is not published, and 2 mg/kg is an order of magnitude below the foods that lead this axis. But a ceiling exists because a trace is expected. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.