|Updated: Nov 07, 2022, 02:20 PM IST

Researchers have discovered that a dietary fiber known as inulin can encourage an allergy-related kind of inflammation in the gut and lungs as well as other parts of the body. Inulin fibre modifies the metabolism of specific gut bacteria, which in turn causes type 2 inflammation in the lungs and gut. This type of inflammation is also thought to be the root cause of allergies, asthma, and other inflammatory diseases. It could be that this inulin to type-2-inflammation pathway represents an adaptive, beneficial response to endemic helminth parasite infection.