Micah Stanley
Yacon is a plant native to South America. In particular, their tubers are used and made into sweet syrup or powder. Both are considered healthy sweeteners with many health benefits.
Yacon Syrup and Yacon Powder – Two healthy sweeteners
Yacon syrup and yacon powder are made from the tuber of the yacon plant (Smallanthus sonchifolius). Yacon (with stress on the second syllable of the word) is related to the sunflower and also to the Jerusalem artichoke.
The yacon tuber can weigh up to a kilogram and looks similar to the sweet potato. Like the latter, yacon also comes from the Andes of South America and has been used as a nutritional and medicinal plant for thousands of years, especially in Peru and Bolivia – and is often eaten for diabetes, kidney and liver diseases, and constipation.
In their home countries, the crunchy tuber is best eaten raw. It tastes refreshingly sweet, like a mixture of pear, apple, melon, and mango. But Yacon is also processed into various products, such as juice, syrup, chips, or powder.
The yacon tuber has a high water content of up to 90 percent (similar to fruit) and thin skin. It can therefore be easily damaged and is not easy to transport – one reason why fresh bulbs are rarely available outside of South America.
For comparison: Potatoes contain 80 percent water, and sweet potatoes only 70 percent. Most fruits are around 85 percent.
Yacon – Once forbidden, now allowed again
In the EU, the sale of Yacon was banned for many years because Yacon fell under the so-called Novel Food Regulation and is considered a “novel food”. Only in 2015 – after it had been found out that it was a harmless food – did Yacon products receive the corresponding approval and can now also be freely sold in Europe.
To produce the yacon syrup, the juice is first pressed out of the tubers, filtered and the water evaporated until the syrup is consistent. If you want to make yacon powder, then the yacon root is cut into pieces, juiced and dehydrated until only the powder remains.
The syrup and powder have a gentle caramel sweetness, with the syrup being noticeably sweeter. They are two of the best sources of fructooligosaccharides (FOS).
Yacon – Excellent source of FOS
In contrast to many other edible tubers (potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.), Yacon does not store its carbohydrates in the form of starch, but mostly in the form of fructooligosaccharides (40-70 percent of the total carbohydrate content).
Sucrose, glucose, and fructose make up the rest of the carbohydrate portion:
- Sucrose (5-15 percent)
- glucose (less than 5 percent)
- Fructose (5-15 percent)
Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are basically special sugars. That’s why they taste almost as sweet as sugar. However, since they are indigestible, they are counted among the group of soluble dietary fibers with a prebiotic effect. This has two major advantages:
- FOS provides few calories (only a third of sugar). So they taste sweet without making you fat.
- As soluble roughage, they promote intestinal health enormously – and since a healthy intestine is a prerequisite for good general health, FOS-rich foods can be regarded as important helpers in health prevention.
Yacon – The Health Benefits
Yacon syrup even consists of 30-50 percent FOS. These are found naturally in many plants, but never in such large quantities as in the yacon tuber. FOS each consists of one glucose molecule linked to two to ten fructose molecules. The compounds are so strong that they cannot be broken down in the human digestive system. For this reason, the FOS passes through the small intestine and reaches the large intestine undigested. Therefore, they do not affect the blood sugar level.
Yacon has a prebiotic effect
In the large intestine, FOS are then completely fermented by the intestinal flora – especially by Bifidus and Lactobacillus strains, i.e. those probiotic bacteria that are so important and health-promoting for humans. As a result, FOS is a good way to rehabilitate diseased intestinal flora. Other sweeteners such as sugar or concentrated fruit juices are known for the opposite. They damage the intestinal flora and intestinal health.
FOS thus serves as food for the useful intestinal flora. That is why they are called prebiotics. When the bacteria metabolize the FOS, short-chain fatty acids are formed. The result is not only a healthy intestinal flora but also a healthy intestinal mucosa, because the resulting short-chain fatty acids can be used by the intestinal mucosal cells to generate energy, which in turn leads to faster regeneration and better resistance of the intestinal mucosa.
However, the more balanced the intestinal flora is and the healthier the intestinal mucosa, the stronger the immune system and the fitter and more vital a person is. We have explained here which complaints the development of a healthy intestinal flora can help with and here how important it is to maintain a healthy intestinal mucosa: The Leaky Gut Syndrome Because allergies, autoimmune diseases, and many other chronic complaints often occur, especially with a diseased intestinal mucosa.
Yacon for good gut health
The positive effect of fructooligosaccharides on intestinal flora is usually shown very quickly in the fact that chronic digestive problems can be remedied. Because FOS help very well to regulate digestion and are therefore used in particular for chronic constipation. In summary, the effects of FOS on the gut are as follows:
- promotion of peristalsis
- Reduction in intestinal transit time
- Increased water content in the stool and therefore particularly helpful in chronic constipation
As the intestinal flora recovers, there are also effects associated with healthy intestinal flora:
- Strengthening and regulation of the immune system
- Better absorption of minerals
- Reduction of elevated cholesterol levels
- Reduced formation of toxic and carcinogenic substances (which often form with a disturbed intestinal flora) and thus reduced risk of colon cancer
Only if you have a fructose intolerance should you be careful with yacon syrup or powder, as fructooligosaccharides are usually not well tolerated by fructose intolerant people – and the small amounts of residual sugar in the yacon tuber consist partly of free fructose.
Yacon improves the calcium supply
The prebiotic effect of the FOS not only ensures a healthier intestinal environment but also has further-reaching influences, e.g. B. on the calcium balance and thus on bone health.
Because FOS can increase calcium absorption (absorption of calcium from the intestine). Again, it is the short-chain fatty acids that lead to this beneficial effect. When the intestinal mucosa cells absorb the fatty acids formed by the intestinal flora, they also absorb calcium ions at the same time.
So you can already start with healthy intestinal flora and the increased consumption of prebiotic foods, such as e.g. B. Jerusalem artichoke, black salsify, chicory, inulin, or Yacon to optimize its calcium supply – without having to absorb more calcium at the same time.
Yacon: fewer calories than sugar
Yacon syrup provides 100 fewer calories than sugar. While table sugar contains 400 kcal per 100 g, yacon syrup only has 300 kcal, and yacon powder has a little more, namely 330 kcal.
But the kcal values alone are far from meaningful. Because Yacon has such a positive effect on the metabolism that it can support weight loss in the long term through other properties, as the following points show.
Yacon syrup and the glycemic index
Although FOS are carbohydrates, they are indigestible, so they do not get into the blood like sugar and therefore do not increase the blood sugar level. This is also the reason why, according to some websites, yacon syrup has a glycemic index (GI) of an incredible 1.
For comparison: the GI of table sugar is 70, that of glucose is 100 and the GI of maple syrup is 65.
The GI of inulin and FOS is now actually 1. However, since yacon syrup only consists of 30 – 50 percent FOS and also contains sucrose and glucose, the glycemic index of yacon syrup is of course also higher. It is 40 (plus/minus 4) but is still one of the low-glycemic foods, i.e. foods that do not irritate blood sugar levels that much.
The glycemic load (GL) per serving of yacon syrup (12 g) is 1.6 and is considered very low. A GL greater than 20 is considered high, a GL of 11 to 19 is considered medium, and a GL less than 10 is considered low.
The glycemic load is calculated by multiplying the carbohydrate content of the serving of the respective food by the GI and then dividing by 100. The carbohydrate content of 12 g yacon syrup is 4.1 g.
Yacon syrup protects against diabetes and regulates blood lipid levels
A double-blind, placebo-controlled study from 2009 showed that the regular use of yacon syrup can have a very positive effect on insulin resistance (pre-diabetes):
The study included 55 overweight women with cholesterol problems and constipation. During the study period of 4 months, the women were to practice a low-fat and calorie-reduced diet. The women were divided into two groups. 40 women took yacon syrup for sweetening (between 0.14 and 0.29 grams per kilogram of body weight), and 15 women took a placebo syrup.
By the end of the study, the Yacon women had lost 15 kilograms, while the women in the placebo group had gained 1.6 kilograms. The digestion of the Yacon women was also regulated so that they hardly ever suffered from constipation. Fasting insulin levels also fell by 42 percent in those women who had taken the yacon syrup. At the same time, the insulin resistance of the cells was reduced by 67 percent. The previously high cholesterol levels also fell by 29 percent to below 100 mg/dL.
Overall, the Yacon group showed dramatic improvements in both weight and metabolic function. In the placebo group, on the other hand, everything remained more or less the same.
Yacon – The slimmer
In the USA, yacon syrup has been known for a long time, but only – how could it be otherwise – because of the above study. The news spread like wildfire: the sweet yacon syrup makes you slim. In no time, the Yacon Diet was born.
The Yacon Diet
As part of the Yacon diet, you should take 100 percent pure Yacon syrup every day, usually 1 large tablespoon per day or 1 teaspoon three times a day, which you always take before meals. Of course, the yacon syrup can also be used to sweeten food or drinks.
In addition to taking Yacon, the following measures should also be observed during the Yacon diet: Daily exercise! No soft drinks, no fast food, no convenience products, no sugar, and no sweets with sugar. For this, you should eat a lot of fruit and vegetables.
Of course, this approach alone makes losing weight a lot easier, so the “Yacon Diet” would most likely be relatively successful even without Yacon. Nevertheless, Yacon makes some diets easier. Because apart from the regulation of the intestinal flora (unfavorable intestinal flora can make you fat), Yacon tastes very good and can really sweeten a diet, especially for those with a sweet tooth.
You look forward to the daily portions of yacon syrup and are much better able to keep up with the change in diet. And since Yacon is not just any dubious slimming product, but a really healthy substance with the valuable effects described, there is nothing to be said against taking and using Yacon as a weight loss aid – especially since the dark syrup also has a very good antioxidant capacity (due to the high phenolic acid content ), thereby improving liver health, preventing certain forms of cancer and strengthening the immune system.
Yacon for the liver
The liver-healthy effects of Yacon were shown in a March 2008 study. However, Yacon (2.4 g per day) was combined with milk thistle (0.8 g silymarin per day). Both together could protect the liver from fat deposits, regulate blood lipid levels and lead to healthy liver values, so Yacon can also be used to prevent arteriosclerosis and to reduce fatty liver.
Yacon – Cultivation in the garden
Yacon is persistent in its homeland, so it sprouts again from the tuber every year. In Central Europe, however, the plant gets too cold in winter. However, the tubers can be well stored in the basement in slightly moistened sand for next year’s planting.
After the last frosts in the following spring, the tubers can be planted out in the garden again (a). However, do not use the large tubers (they will rot), just use the small bluish/purple tubers (also known as rhizomes) that appear between the large tubers. You can even divide the nodules, i.e. plant them individually, as each one creates a new plant.
It is important for the plant to have sufficient moisture and plenty of heat. A southern or southwestern exposure would therefore be ideal for a yacon bed. Moreover, the more fertile the soil, the larger the tubers will be. The plants can also be grown in pots. You can easily find sources of supply for tubers for cultivation on the net.
Yacon does not store well
However, only harvest as many yacon tubers as you want to eat fresh at a time, at least if you want to enjoy the health benefits of FOS.
If yacon tubers are stored, the FOS are converted into mono- and disaccharides (into fructose, glucose, and sucrose) by an enzyme (fructan hydrolase) very quickly after harvesting.
In this way, up to 40 percent of the FOS is converted into sugar after just one week of storage at room temperature. At the same time, the tuber loses up to 40 percent of its water during this period. Although Yacon now tastes sweeter due to the higher sugar content, the glycemic index is now also higher and the positive properties of the FOS are missing. Yacon tubers are therefore ideal for fresh consumption, but not suitable for storage.
The FOS-degrading enzyme is no longer active in the yacon syrup or the yacon powder so there is no longer any fear of FOS degradation.
