Resistant starch is a unique type of fiber with impressive health benefits. However, only a few foods contain sufficient amounts of it. In addition, resistant starch in foods often loses their properties during cooking. Nowadays this is a verydiscussed natural product, which many people experiment with and see great improvements by adding it to their diet. That's why today we're trying to give you some useful information on this topic.
What is resistant starch?
Most carbohydrates in the diet are starches. These are long sugar chains found in grains, potatoes and various foods. However, humans do not digest the entire amount of starch they consume. Sometimes a small portion of it passes through your digestive tract unchanged. In other words, this part is resistant to digestion. This type is considered a resistant starch, which functions like soluble fiber. For example, many human studies show that you can lose weight and benefit from other positive effects with resistant starch. These include improved insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar levels, reduced appetite and various digestive benefits.
Resistant starch works similarlysoluble, fermentable fiber. It helps to nourish the good bacteria in the intestinal flora and increase the production of short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate. Interestingly, the way you prepare starchy foods affects their starch content, as the most resistant starches disappear with cooking or heating. However, you can recapture the resistant starch content of some foods by allowing them to cool after cooking. Although there is no formal recommendation for resistant starch intake, many studies showing health benefits have used 15 to 30 grams per day. Below are some types of foods with resistant starch.
A superfood for the digestive system
When you eat resistant starch, it goes into your colon, where bacteria digest it and convert it into short-chain fatty acids. The most important of these short-chain fatty acids is butyrate. This is the preferred fuel of the cells lining the colon. Therefore, resistant starch feeds both the good bacteria and indirectly the cells in the colon by increasing the amount of butyrate. Resistant starch has several positive effects on the intestinal flora. With it you lower the pH value, effectively reduce inflammation and receive several beneficial changes that are intended to reduce the risk of colon cancer.
The short-chain fatty acids, which are not used by the cells in the colon, travel into the bloodstream, liver, and the rest of the body, where they can have various beneficial effects. Resistant starch can combat various digestive disorders due to its therapeutic effect on the colon. This includes inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, constipation, diverticulitis and diarrhea. Animal studies have also shown that resistant starch increases the absorption of minerals. However, butyrate's role in health and disease control needs to be properly studied in humans before strong recommendations can be made.
Different types and foods
Not all resistant starches are created equal. There are 4 different types:
- Type 1: Found in grains, seeds, and legumes, it resists digestion because it is bound within the fibrous cell walls.
- Type 2: Found in some starchy foods, including raw potatoes and green (unripe) bananas.
- Resistant Starch Type 3: Formed when certain starchy foods, including potatoes and rice, are cooked and then cooled. Cooling causes some of the digestible starches to be converted into resistant starches through retrogradation.
- Type 4: Produced by humans and through a chemical process.
However, this classification is not so simple because several different types of resistant starch can exist at the same time in the same food. Depending on how you prepare food, the content changes. For example, when you ripen a banana, the resistant starches are broken down and converted into normal starch. By increasing the production of butyrate, resistant starch nourishes the cells of the colon and leads to various improvements in the functioning of the digestive system.
Resistant starch oatmeal
Oats are one of the most convenient ways to add resistant starch to your diet. 100g of cooked oatmeal can contain around 3.6g of it. Oats are also rich in antioxidants and are a whole grain. Allowing your cooked oats to cool for several hours or overnight can increase the starch content even further.
Cooked and chilled rice
Using rice as a source of resistant starch can also be another inexpensive and convenient way to improve your diet. A popular preparation method is to cook large quantities for the entire week. Not only does this save time, but it also increases the resistant starch content since you let the rice cool. Brown rice may be preferred over white rice due to its higher fiber content. This also provides more micronutrients, including manganese and magnesium.
Add resistant starch to diet
There are two ways to add resistant starch to your diet - either from food or through supplements in the form of powder or capsules. As described above, some commonly consumed foods contain a lot of it. This also includes boiled and then cooled potatoes, green bananas, various legumes and, for example, cashews. As you can see, these are all high-carb resistant starch foods, so they are not an option if you currently have a verylow carbohydrate dietretain.
However, you can eat some if you stick to low carb resistant starch with carbohydrates in the range of 50 to 150 grams. That being said, you can add such a supplement to your diet without consuming digestible carbohydrates and resistant starch. For this purpose, many people recommend dietary supplements such as raw potato starch made from potato flour or corn starch. Additionally, raw potato starch contains about 8 grams of resistant starch per tablespoon and almost no usable carbohydrate.
This tastes neutral and can be added to your diet in a variety of ways. For example, you can sprinkle the starch on your food, mix it in water or add it to smoothies. Four tablespoons of raw potato starch should provide 32 grams. It's important to start slowly and work your way up. Too much resistant starch can cause bloating and other similar symptoms. If you consume significantly more of it, excess amounts will flow through your body anyway and you will reach 50 to 60 grams per day for no good reason. Additionally, it may take 2 to 4 weeks for short chain fatty acid production to increase and for you to notice all the benefits - so be patient.
