If you do Keto/Paleo and occasionally rely on bars for a meal or snack and look at net carbs, the industry could be fooling us when they list high amounts of fiber and all of it comes from Tapioca Fiber. Summary: Not only do IMOs (isomaltooligosaccharide) like tapioca fiber generate a glycemic response, they can generate a response that’s more substantial than the equivalent amount in sugar! https://convenientketo.net/tapioca-fiber-soluble-corn-fiber-imo/ SO when that bars has 20g of carbs and "13g of fiber" ......Is this really true? Jury is still out on this one for me as tapioca fiber is supposedly pulled out from the tapioca pulp which is mostly starch to create soluble fiber additive. FDA is trying to address this and seems to come down on the side of no longer allowing these to be called fiber but it is not official and companies still do it.
There is no debating that IMO occurs naturally in some foods. However, it is not economically feasible to extract IMO from whole foods on a large scale, so most commercially-available IMO syrups are manufactured from starch using an enzymatic process. Because of their lower price points, these industrial, starch-based IMO sources are what you will find in the vast majority of the “healthy, low-carb” bars on the market. Wait… Did we just use “starch” and “low-carb” in the same sentence? Something fishy here… Industrial IMO Can Spike Blood Sugar A 2017 study in the Journal of Insulin Resistance aimed to investigate the impact of IMO consumption on blood glucose, insulin and breath hydrogen responses in healthy men and women. The results of the study showed that IMO consumption led to a rise of nearly 50 mg/dL in blood glucose, with a five-fold rise in insulin at 30 minutes. But that’s not all. Another 2017 study by the Journal of Food Science on IMO clearly stated: “Analysis of the results with respect to digestibility suggests that the potential glycemic impact of the ingredients and products containing “industrial” IMO may be inconsistent with the product labeling and/or certificates of analysis with respect to overall fiber content, prebiotic fiber content, and glycemic response and are thus inappropriate for diabetic patients and those on low-carbohydrate (for example, ketogenic) diets.” In other words, IMO does not function purely as prebiotic fiber and has been shown to significantly spike blood glucose in some individuals!
You know what they say about all these “power” bars, eh? They’re mostly just candy bars in gym clothing.