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Froose Beverages and Gummy Snacks
These functional beverages for kids contain prebiotics from gluten-free organic brown rice flour and inulin (fructo-oligosaccharide), offering 3 grams of fiber per serving. The new “family size” comes in a 46-ounce PET bottle. Froose Gummy Snacks contain fructan (inulin), which the company touts—“supports digestive health”—on the product package.
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Kashi U Cereals
This cereal offers a whopping 7 grams of fiber per serving, including 2 grams of prebiotic chicory root fiber. On the product package, the company includes a three-sentence paragraph promoting the digestive health benefits of the prebiotic fiber.
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Gnu Bars
Packing 12 grams of fiber (including 8 grams of soluble fiber), these baked bars have added chicory root inulin among other fiber-rich ingredients. However, the company doesn’t advertise the prebiotic on product packaging. What does it promote? “Fiber for regularity and heart health.”
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Julie’s Organic Low-fat Frozen Yogurt
Julie’s low-fat frozen yogurt contains 2 grams of fiber per serving, including a prebiotic fiber called NutraFlora—a short‐chain fructo-oligosaccharide derived from non-GMO beet or cane sugar that the company claims boosts calcium absorption. The prebiotics are complemented by six active probiotic yogurt cultures. But since Julie's doesn’t promote the prebiotics or probiotics on the product, consumers are perhaps sold on the low-fat label.
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Horizon Organic Yogurt
Along with five active probiotic cultures, Horizon yogurt has fructan, or NutraFlora, adding up to only 1 gram of fiber per serving. But the selling point may be another nutritional bonus because the label showcases the NutraFlora logo and statement: “Enhanced with NutraFlora, a natural dietary fiber and prebiotic that has been shown to help the body absorb calcium more efficiently.”
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F-Factor Bars
Following the F-Factor diet, which combines lean proteins with high-fiber carbs, these bars get a fiber boost from inulin (7 grams per serving for a total fiber count of 12 grams per serving). On the company website, inulin is touted as a “soluble fiber that aids digestion.”
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Monkey Brains Oatmeal
With cartoonlike images on the package, Monkey Brains Oatmeal with NutraFlora has kid appeal. Plus, the company tries simplify prebiotics for consumers by saying on the product website that “the non-scientific description is that prebiotic fiber is food for your tummy
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PRE Probiotic Enhancer
This USDA Organic beverage contains 3.5 grams of Jarrow Formulas prebiotic inulin and fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) per 2-serving bottle. The Jarrow Digestive Health logo adorns the label as does a paragraph describing the drink’s digestive health benefits. The beverage comes in non-organic and gluten-free versions with the number of calories—zero in some cases—blazoned on the bottle.
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Barbara’s Bakery Multigrain Puffins
Seven of Barbara’s Bakery cereals feature NutraFlora, a patented prebiotic dervived from non-GMO beet or cane sugar. The word “prebiotic” appears on the front-of-package of Multigrain Puffins, along with other specific nutrient specifications for sugar (6 grams per serving) and fiber (3 grams per serving).
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Lifeway ProBugs
This USDA Organic whole milk kefir for kids has inulin (1.5 total grams of fiber per serving) and 10 live, active probiotic cultures. The company markets inulin in the kids-specific product for its ability to help with calcium absorption. The drinks come in pouches of 5-ounce servings and four flavors: Sublime Slime Lime, Orange Creamy Crawler, Goo-Berry Pie and Stawnana Split. In other Lifeway products, added inulin has a different target audience and thus fine-tuned marketing. For example, inulin is “fiber” in the Slim6 low-fat, low-carb kefirs.
Prebiotics often are hidden in unlikely places and called a variety of names. Check out 10 functional foods and drinks that sneak in prebiotic soluble fiber for a variety of purposes, including fat and sugar reduction and digestive health.