Other and oligosaccharides: 82 foods rated

Same reason as the FODMAP level: allium fructans concentrated into a few grams. They are water-soluble, which here works against you - the cube is designed to dissolve completely into the liquid you then drink. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Two oligosaccharides at once: chickpea GOS and garlic fructans - one from each family this axis counts, in the same bowl. The garlic is usually the larger share. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Inulin is this axis in purified form - a fructan chain sold as a fibre and added to yoghurts, bars and "gut health" drinks precisely because the colonic bacteria ferment it. The prebiotic claim on the front of the pack and the reason it sits here are the same sentence read from two ends. For scale, in a whole diet rather than in a spoonful: a survey of more than 15,000 Americans put average intake at 2.6 g of inulin and 2.5 g of oligofructose a day - from 1.3 g in young children to 3.5 g in adult men - and found that wheat supplied about 70 per cent of it and onions about 25. Almost none of it came from an added ingredient. A product with inulin on the label therefore adds to a load that bread and onions have already built.

• Moshfegh A.J. et al., J Nutr 129:7 Suppl (1999) 1407S-1411S, inulin and oligofructose in the diets of Americans

The beef brings none of this and the vegetables bring all of it. Roasting the onion first does break some of the chains - dry heat above about 135 degrees degrades fructan - but what survives is water-soluble and a stock is water, held for hours. Extraction beats degradation here. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Same reason as the FODMAP level: bread fructans, dried and ground. The dose is what saves it - a coating is a fraction of a slice - but the concentration per gram is higher than the bread it came from.

The chicken contributes nothing here - meat carries no oligosaccharide. Everything on this axis comes from the aromatics, which is why a home stock without onion and garlic is a genuinely different product. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Croissant: same reason as the FODMAP level: wheat fructans, in a pastry that is mostly butter and air by volume. Fat carries no chains, so the flour weight is what counts and it is lower than the size suggests.

The oats are the least of it. What brings chains to a granola is what was added: dried fruit fructans, cashew GOS, inulin declared as fibre - three different oligosaccharides in one bowl, from three different ingredients. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Miso is fermented soy, and the koji mould consumes much of the raffinose family during the months it works - which is why miso sits well below the bean it is made from. What remains is a residue, in a food used by the spoonful.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products

Natto is whole soya beans fermented by Bacillus subtilis, and fermentation consumes part of the GOS - but the beans are eaten whole rather than pressed, so more remains than in tofu or miso. Whole plus fermented lands between the two.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products

Same reason as the FODMAP level: wheat fructans, minus what the boiling water took. Fructans are water-soluble and pasta is cooked in far more water than it absorbs, which is the one thing that separates it from bread.

Pesto is basil, oil, cheese, pine nuts and garlic, and only the last of those brings an oligosaccharide. A garlic-free pesto is low here, which makes this one of the easiest sauces to make compliant. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

The tomato is not the issue on this axis - tomato brings sugar, not chains. What puts a jarred sauce here is the onion and garlic cooked into it, which is why a plain passata and a ready-made sauce are not the same food. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Same reason as the FODMAP level: onion and garlic fructans, dissolved into the liquid. Water-solubility is the whole problem with stock - the chains are extracted on purpose, along with the flavour. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Almond butter is almonds without the chewing, so a tablespoon holds more nuts than a handful does. Same GOS, same threshold, arriving faster and in a form that makes the portion hard to see.

Beetroot juice powder concentrates a vegetable that does carry fructans - but it is used as a colour, in fractions of a percent, where whole beetroot is eaten by the plateful. Same plant, two very different doses.

Cashew cheese is the opposite of cashew milk: the nuts and their GOS are concentrated rather than diluted, and nothing is strained out. This level applies to a slice-sized portion, and a spread eaten by the spoonful crosses it quickly.

Cornflakes are maize, which carries almost no fructan - but the box often adds honey, malt extract or inulin as fibre, and each of those brings chains the corn did not. The cereal is fine; the recipe may not be.

Fermented tofu is pressed and then fermented, so the GOS are removed twice over - once with the whey and once by the mould. It is intensely salty and used in small amounts, which settles the rest.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products

Potato carries no fructan, so plain fried potato is outside this axis. What puts a portion of fries at risk is the seasoning - onion or garlic powder in the coating - rather than anything in the potato itself.

Gluten-free bread was measured at about 1 gram of fructan per hundred, and a fructan is an oligosaccharide. Whelan measured it at 1.00 g/100 g, against 0.61 to 1.94 for the breads tested, and called the resemblance to wheat bread surprising. What varies most is the brand and not the type: gluten-free loaves ranged from 0.36 to 1.79, a fivefold spread on one shelf. The authors describe these quantities as low.

• Whelan K et al., Int J Food Sci Nutr 62:5 (2011) 498-503, fructan measured in wheat, rye and gluten-free breads

Ketchup's FODMAP level is sugar - concentrated tomato plus what was added. The chains would come from onion powder if a given brand uses it, which is why the ingredient list decides this one rather than the category. This is a PREPARED food, and that is the difficulty on this axis: the oligosaccharides come from whatever went in - onion, garlic, a legume, an added fibre - not from a single plant that could be looked up. The level follows work on fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods for that reason. The survey behind this ranks by PLANT FAMILY rather than by food: the Compositae highest in total fructooligosaccharide, then the Allium species. A prepared food takes its place from whichever of those went into it - onion and garlic are Allium, artichoke and chicory are Compositae - and the survey names no prepared food itself.

• Hogarth A. et al., J Agric Food Chem 48 (2000), fructooligosaccharides in prepared and preserved foods
• Campbell J.M. et al., J Agric Food Chem 45 (1997) 3076-3082, fructooligosaccharide composition of foods and feeds

Oat cream carries the oat's small fructan fraction, diluted in water and fat. A splash in a sauce stays inside this level; oat products scale with how much of the oat is actually in them, and cream is mostly not oat.

Sourdough: same reason as the FODMAP level: the lactic bacteria consume much of the fructan (an oligosaccharide) during a long fermentation.

Soy butter is a fat spread rather than a bean product in any meaningful sense - the oil carries none of the bean's chains, because oligosaccharides do not dissolve in oil. That is the same rule that makes garlic-infused oil work.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products

Soy cream is made from the same isolate or strained base as the culinary soy milks, with fat added for texture. Fat carries no chains at all, so the added ingredient dilutes rather than contributes.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products

Soy yoghurt is fermented twice over in effect - the base is usually made from isolate or strained soy milk, and the cultures then consume more sugar. The answer depends on the base rather than on the culture.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products

Sesame carries very little fructan and very little GOS, and tahini is used by the spoonful. It is the ingredient that lets a hummus-shaped dip exist on this diet, provided the chickpeas and the garlic are dealt with separately.

Tempeh is whole soya beans fermented by Rhizopus, and the mould consumes the raffinose family as it grows - stachyose and raffinose measurably fall during fermentation. The bean was high; the mould did the work.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products. Rehms H. & Barz W., Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 44 (1995) 47-52, screened 46 tempe-forming Rhizopus strains and found R. oryzae and R. stolonifer consuming raffinose, stachyose and melibiose completely — it measures the moulds rather than a finished tempeh, so it carries the mechanism and no figure for a product on sale

Tofu is pressed, and pressing removes the whey - which is where the water-soluble GOS go. That is why firm tofu is low while the bean it came from is high, and why silken tofu, which is not pressed, is not the same food here.

• Švejstil R. et al., Sci Agric Bohem 46:2 (2015) 73-77, raffinose-series oligosaccharides in soybean products

Which tortilla decides the answer. Corn tortillas are made from maize and stay low in oligosaccharides; wheat tortillas are flour bread by another shape. The two sit side by side in the same aisle in similar packets.