Chicory: Benefits, Root Fiber, Chicory Coffee & Side Effects

Dr. Josh Axe · Free quiz

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Pull up a wild chicory plant, the one with the sky-blue flowers, and you'll find a long, pale taproot underneath. Slice it open and the center is creamy white and dense with fiber, most of it inulin, a carbohydrate your own digestive enzymes can't break down.1 That fiber travels intact to your colon, where it becomes food for the bacteria that help keep you regular. Roast the same root and it turns dark and fragrant, the base of chicory coffee.

Chicory has been food and medicine for more than 2,000 years, and today it reaches your plate in four main ways: as a roasted drink, as a cooked root vegetable, as chicory root fiber added to packaged foods, and as bitter leaves such as radicchio and Belgian endive, which are chicory too.1

I've called prebiotics the fertilizer for probiotics,9 and few vegetables carry more of that fertilizer than chicory root.1 Roasted, the root is also one of the coffee substitutes I recommend:10

Did you know?

• On a dry-weight basis, chicory root can be up to 90% fiber, which puts it among the most fiber-rich vegetables there are.1

• Belgian endive is chicory too: growers force chicory roots to sprout indoors in the dark, which keeps the leaves pale and tender.1

• A 1614 Italian cookbook served young chicory roots raw with oil, vinegar and salt in spring and boiled with raisins in autumn, and the cooked root is still an autumn specialty in parts of Italy.1

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What is chicory?

Chicory grows wild and cultivated in many parts of the world, and its blue flowers make it easy to spot.1 Farmers grow it two ways: leaf chicory for salad greens, and root chicory for its fleshy taproot.1 Both the leaves and the root taste bitter, thanks to plant compounds called sesquiterpene lactones, including lactucin and lactucopicrin.11

A short history of chicory

Chicory was eaten in Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and in the 1st century the Greek physician Dioscorides and the Roman Pliny both described it as a medicinal plant.1 The uses they recorded, mostly for digestion and the liver, carried through the Persian physician Rhazes in the 9th century and into the Middle Ages, when chicory was cooked with vinegar as "food for the sick" to settle a weak stomach and its leaves and juice were taken for liver and spleen complaints.1 By the 16th and 17th centuries, chicory appeared in almost every pharmacopeia written in Europe.1

The roasted root took a different path. Drinks made from roasted, ground chicory were likely around earlier, but they caught on at the end of the 18th century, after Frederick the Great clamped down on coffee in Prussia, and farmers across Europe began growing chicory roots for the purpose.1 Chicory also fed people through hard times, including World War II, and in the 20th century chicory roots came to be grown mainly as a source of inulin for the food industry.1

Chicory in the Bible

Scripture doesn't name chicory, but it does call for bitter herbs at the first Passover: "And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it" (Exodus 12:8).12 Vegetables and bitter herbs are one of the groups I count among the superfoods of the Bible, and in my episode on them, chicory is on the list:13

You'll find more of these foods in our guide to Bible foods.

What is chicory root?

Chicory root is the plant's long taproot, and it's built for storage. Inside its cell walls, the root packs away inulin, a chain of fructose units that human digestive enzymes can't break apart, along with pectin, hemicellulose and cellulose. Together these fibers make up 15 to 20% of the fresh root's weight.1 That's why most of the research on chicory is research on its fiber.

You can get chicory root in several forms:

Chicory root nutrition facts

Chicory root, raw, per root (60 g) and per 100 g. Source: USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 169993; per-root values calculated at USDA's 60-gram root; % Daily Value uses FDA reference values.1819

A whole root is a light, low-fat vegetable whose standouts are vitamin B6 and manganese. Its real contribution is the inulin the table can't show.

What is chicory good for?

How chicory root fiber works in your body

Chicory root fiber works by feeding the bacteria in your colon, which turn it into short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, the main fuel for the cells that line your colon.3031 Here's how that happens, step by step:

Chicory's bitterness may help at the start of digestion too. When your body tastes bitter, it releases more bile, stomach acid and enzymes, which supports your whole digestive system. That's one reason bitter foods are so beneficial.13

Chicory benefits, ranked by evidence

Starting with the strongest human research, chicory's benefits run from regularity and gut bacteria to blood sugar, appetite, minerals and blood fats, with its traditional role in digestion and the liver last.

Chicory coffee: what it is, caffeine and how to brew it

Coffee can be a healing food if you tolerate it well, and for most people who do well with it, the range I give is 1 to 2 cups a day, maybe up to 3.10 Chicory fits around that. If coffee agrees with you, you can keep your morning cup and make chicory your afternoon brew; if you're cutting back on caffeine, chicory can stand in for coffee entirely. It sits alongside dandelion root, mushroom coffee and the other alternatives to coffee for exactly that job.

A brewed cup carries far less fiber than the root, yet it has measurable effects of its own. In the one placebo-controlled trial of a brewed chicory drink, 47 healthy adults drank 300 ml a day of roasted chicory root steeped in hot water, or a barley tea with 10% coffee, for 4 weeks. The chicory drink lowered HbA1c slightly, from 5.32% to 5.22%, against 5.34% to 5.30% on the comparison drink, while fasting glucose, insulin and blood fats didn't change.16 Each 100 ml carried about 0.25 gram of inulin and 0.09 gram of polyphenols.16 In a week-long study of 27 healthy adults with no comparison group, 300 ml of chicory coffee a day lowered blood viscosity and an inflammatory signal called MIF.43 And when a soluble chicory extract was stirred into morning coffee to deliver 5 grams of inulin a day, 35 adults had no more digestive symptoms over 4 weeks than a group whose coffee had sugar added instead.44

How to brew it:

• Like coffee: Use roasted, ground chicory in a drip machine, French press or pour-over, alone or mixed with coffee. The trial drink used 10 grams of roasted root in 350 ml (about 12 ounces) of hot water.16
• As a tea: Europe's traditional amount is 2 to 4 grams of cut root steeped or simmered in 250 ml (about 1 cup) of water, once a day.3
• To finish: For a creamier cup, add a splash of goat milk or coconut milk, and sweeten, if at all, with a little raw honey.

Chicory root fiber: why it's in so many foods

Inulin forms a creamy, fat-like gel in water, and the shorter oligofructose behaves like sugar, which is why food makers use them to cut fat and sugar.17 When chicory fiber replaced part of the sugar in a yogurt drink or a fruit jelly, blood sugar rose less after eating: the response fell from 37.3 to 31.9 units for the yogurt drink and from 63.7 to 53.7 for the jelly, in two controlled trials of about 40 healthy adults each, where each person tried both versions.25

On an ingredient list, look for "chicory root fiber," "inulin" or "oligofructose." If a bar, a yogurt and a cereal each list it, the grams add up across your day, and the how-much section below gives the amounts most people handle comfortably. If these foods leave you with gas or bloating, the sensitive-gut section explains why and what to do.

Chicory greens, endive and radicchio

Chicory leaves are bitter salad greens rich in vitamin K. One cup of chopped raw chicory greens (29 grams) has about 7 calories and 86 mcg of vitamin K, 72% of the daily value, plus 83 mcg of vitamin A (9% DV), 32 mcg of folate (8% DV), 7 mg of vitamin C (8% DV) and 1.2 grams of fiber.4519 The same bitter bite runs through radicchio and Belgian endive, the other leaf chicories.1 Chop the greens into a salad with olive oil and lemon, or sauté them with garlic to soften the bitterness. Because the greens are rich in vitamin K, anyone on warfarin should read the medication guidance under side effects.

How much chicory root fiber should you have?

In tolerance trials, healthy adults handled up to 10 grams a day of native inulin with mild gas and bloating, while 10 grams of oligofructose raised symptoms noticeably, and symptoms rose with the dose.746 Some extra gas is normal when you add fiber: that's your gut microbiome changing so it can break the new fiber down.47 And if you're eating around 15 grams of fiber a day, that's too low; I want you closer to 30 to 40.47 Raise chicory fiber slowly, spread it across your meals (the constipation trial gave 4 grams with each of three meals) and let your gut catch up.4 See how much fiber per day for the bigger picture.

When the goal is feeding the good bacteria in your gut, I lean toward fibers that are more prebiotic than psyllium husk.9 Inulin, the main fiber in chicory root, is one of them: it feeds those bacteria and supports the butyrate they make.31

For the other forms:

• Dried chicory root: The trials used 15 grams a day for 2 weeks, then 30 grams a day.1415
• Chicory coffee: There's no set limit; the two trials of the drink used 300 ml (about 10 ounces) a day.1643

Chicory, bloating and FODMAPs: what to do with a sensitive gut

FODMAPs are fermentable carbohydrates, and fructans like chicory's are one of the groups that trigger symptoms in people with irritable bowel syndrome.48 In a meta-analysis of 11 trials with 729 adults with IBS or similar bowel disorders, prebiotics raised bifidobacteria, overall symptom relief didn't differ from placebo (54% vs. 63% of people responded), and inulin-type fiber made flatulence worse, while doses of 6 grams a day or less and non-inulin prebiotics eased it.50 In 36 adults with gas-related complaints, 8 grams a day of chicory inulin for 4 weeks was well tolerated and raised bifidobacteria compared with placebo.51

Here's how I approach it:

• Start gentle: If you have bloating or a leaky gut, I start with gentler, low-FODMAP prebiotic fibers: partially hydrolyzed guar gum, about 5 to 7 grams a day, or acacia fiber.9
• Hold chicory while you heal: In my Healing Leaky Gut protocol, inulin, FOS and chicory root wait until the gut lining has healed.49
• Bring foods back: Low-FODMAP eating is a short-term tool. Foods come back one at a time, because long-term restriction isn't healthy for the gut.52
• Look for the driver: Many people told they have IBS have SIBO, bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, which is worth testing for if fermentable fibers reliably bloat you.52

From there, add chicory to your prebiotic foods a few grams at a time.

How to eat chicory

Chicory works as a drink, a cooked root, a salad green and a fiber you stir in. Pair its bitterness with fat, acid or a little sweetness.

Chicory side effects and who should be careful

Gas and bloating rise with the dose of chicory root fiber; the amounts to start with are in the how-much section, and the approach for a sensitive gut is in the section above.746

Allergies

Chicory belongs to the daisy family, Asteraceae, which also includes ragweed, and Europe advises against chicory root for anyone allergic to chicory or other plants in that family.3 An allergy to chicory itself is rare, with about 20 documented cases in 100 years, mostly in people who handled it at work.1 In one case series, 4 people with birch pollen allergy reacted to chicory with an itchy mouth and throat, called oral allergy syndrome.54 If you're allergic to ragweed, daisies or related plants, skip chicory. If you ever get itching or hives after eating it, stop, and get emergency care for swelling of the lips or throat or trouble breathing.

Pregnancy and nursing

Chicory greens are fine as food during pregnancy. Europe doesn't recommend chicory root as an herbal remedy while you're pregnant or nursing, because its safety then hasn't been established, and a concentrated alcohol extract of the root caused pregnancy loss in rats.311 So skip chicory root tea and extracts during those months, and as a precaution, daily chicory coffee and inulin supplements too.

Gallstones and the gallbladder

Europe's review of chicory root lists no gallbladder warning.353 Because chicory is traditionally used to move bile, check with your practitioner before using chicory as a remedy if you have known gallstones or a blocked bile duct.11 If you've had your gallbladder removed or have gallbladder issues, I recommend bile support with fatty meals: bile salts such as ox bile, 125 to 500 mg, the dose in my Healing Leaky Gut protocol.49

Medications

If you take insulin or another glucose-lowering medicine, chicory root fiber at supplement amounts can add to its effect: in trials of people with type 2 diabetes, it lowered fasting glucose and HbA1c.2335 Check your blood sugar more often when you start, and tell the doctor who prescribes your medicine, since the dose may need adjusting as your numbers improve; never change a prescription on your own. Europe lists no drug interactions for chicory root tea, though in pigs, dried chicory root raised the activity of two liver enzymes that process some drugs.311 Chicory greens are rich in vitamin K, so if you take warfarin, keep the amount you eat about the same each week.45

Children

Europe doesn't recommend chicory root tea for children under 12, because there's no data on its use at those ages.3

The bottom line

Chicory: frequently asked questions

References

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2. Gibson GR, Hutkins R, Sanders ME, et al. Expert consensus document: The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of prebiotics. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;14(8):491-502. doi:10.1038/nrgastro.2017.75
3. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Community herbal monograph on Cichorium intybus L., radix. EMA/HMPC/121816/2010. Adopted 15 January 2013.
4. Micka A, Siepelmeyer A, Holz A, et al. Effect of consumption of chicory inulin on bowel function in healthy subjects with constipation: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2017;68(1):82-89. doi:10.1080/09637486.2016.1212819
5. Nagy DU, Sándor-Bajusz KA, Bódy B, et al. Effect of chicory-derived inulin-type fructans on abundance of Bifidobacterium and on bowel function: a systematic review with meta-analyses. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2023;63(33):12018-12035. doi:10.1080/10408398.2022.2098246
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9. Axe J. Complete Guide to Healing Leaky Gut. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (fiber fine-tuning at 41:14–41:59, gentle prebiotics at 42:23–43:12, prebiotics as fertilizer at 43:24 in the YouTube upload, video 5Y4g5CgMDoU).
10. Axe J. How Coffee Affects Your Brain, Hormones, and Gut. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2025 (coffee-substitute line at 25:50 in the YouTube upload, video BuM1ceuyUlk).
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29. Talukdar JR, Cooper M, Lyutvyn L, et al. The effects of inulin-type fructans on cardiovascular disease risk factors: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2024;119(2):496-510. doi:10.1016/j.ajcnut.2023.10.030
30. Koh A, De Vadder F, Kovatcheva-Datchary P, et al. From Dietary Fiber to Host Physiology: Short-Chain Fatty Acids as Key Bacterial Metabolites. Cell. 2016;165(6):1332-1345. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.05.041
31. Axe J. Nature's Ozempic: Eat These Foods To Kill Cravings & Burn Fat! The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (inulin line at 19:33 in the YouTube upload, video yT1dfdXfqUQ).
32. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Questions and Answers on Dietary Fiber. fda.gov
33. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of a health claim related to "native chicory inulin" and maintenance of normal defecation by increasing stool frequency pursuant to Article 13.5 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. EFSA J. 2015;13(1):3951. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2015.3951
34. Reimer RA, Soto-Vaca A, Nicolucci AC, et al. Effect of chicory inulin-type fructan-containing snack bars on the human gut microbiota in low dietary fiber consumers in a randomized crossover trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2020;111(6):1286-1296. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqaa074
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36. Dehghan P, Pourghassem Gargari B, Asghari Jafar-abadi M. Oligofructose-enriched inulin improves some inflammatory markers and metabolic endotoxemia in women with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Nutrition. 2014;30(4):418-23. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2013.09.005
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38. Cani PD, Lecourt E, Dewulf EM, et al. Gut microbiota fermentation of prebiotics increases satietogenic and incretin gut peptide production with consequences for appetite sensation and glucose response after a meal. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;90(5):1236-43. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.28095
39. Axe J. The #1 Mineral for Sleep That 48% of People Lack. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (prebiotics and magnesium absorption at 29:22 in the YouTube upload, video J1vB4UTuW6I).
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42. Farhangi MA, Javid AZ, Dehghan P. The effect of enriched chicory inulin on liver enzymes, calcium homeostasis and hematological parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A randomized placebo-controlled trial. Prim Care Diabetes. 2016;10(4):265-71. doi:10.1016/j.pcd.2015.10.009
43. Schumacher E, Vigh E, Molnár V, et al. Thrombosis preventive potential of chicory coffee consumption: a clinical study. Phytother Res. 2011;25(5):744-8. doi:10.1002/ptr.3481
44. Ripoll C, Flourié B, Megnien S, et al. Gastrointestinal tolerance to an inulin-rich soluble roasted chicory extract after consumption in healthy subjects. Nutrition. 2010;26(7-8):799-803. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2009.07.013
45. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Chicory greens, raw. SR Legacy, FDC ID 169992. fdc.nal.usda.gov
46. Bruhwyler J, Carreer F, Demanet E, et al. Digestive tolerance of inulin-type fructans: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over, dose-ranging, randomized study in healthy volunteers. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2009;60(2):165-75. doi:10.1080/09637480701625697
47. Axe J, Clark A. The Toxin Nobody Checks For (It's in Your Clothes & Bed). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (fiber and gas at 31:57 in the YouTube upload, video z2ztoxGIAzw).
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49. Axe J. Healing Leaky Gut Protocol: The 30-Day System. DrAxe.com. 2026 (Replace step, supplement focus: ox bile, if no gallbladder, 125 to 500 mg with fatty meals; Reinoculate step: gentle prebiotics only, PHGG 5 to 7 g daily or acacia fiber, skip inulin and FOS until fully healed, with inulin, FOS and chicory root on the avoid list early on).
50. Wilson B, Rossi M, Dimidi E, et al. Prebiotics in irritable bowel syndrome and other functional bowel disorders in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2019;109(4):1098-1111. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqy376
51. Azpiroz F, Molne L, Mendez S, et al. Effect of Chicory-derived Inulin on Abdominal Sensations and Bowel Motor Function. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2017;51(7):619-625. doi:10.1097/MCG.0000000000000723
52. Axe J. SIBO Protocol: The 60-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com. 2026 (FAQ: low-FODMAP as a short-term tool, foods reintroduced one at a time in Restore; SIBO as a common, under-tested reason behind IBS symptoms).
53. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Addendum to assessment report on Cichorium intybus L., radix (periodic review 2013–2021). EMA/HMPC/639126/2021. 26 January 2022.
54. Cadot P, Kochuyt AM, van Ree R, et al. Oral allergy syndrome to chicory associated with birch pollen allergy. Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2003;131(1):19-24. doi:10.1159/000070430

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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