Resistant Starches - We Aren't Getting Enough

Resistant Starch - We Aren't Getting Enough

Do you know what a resistant starch is? Well, easy. It's a form of starch that resists digestion, making it past your stomach and small bowel to the large colon. There, magic happens in the right circumstances. So, not always. It depends on the type of resistant starch. Let's see. They use the initials RS for the "Resistant Starch" type.

RS-1 is the whole grain. Imagine a whole, raw kidney bean. It hasn't been cooked. Its carbohydrate molecules are tightly packed and then coated with an outer fiber barrier that keeps digestive enzymes out. It sure is resistant. In fact, so much so that some of those raw, whole beans get pooped out to grow new beans.

Under an electron microscope, there is an orderly, packed, dense matrix of long molecules. Imagine a milkweed pod filled with seeds, all highly packed. That's RS-1. No digestive enzyme could get into that tight, dense matrix.

RS-2 is what happens when you cook the RS-1 in water. Heat it and add water. The starch molecules fluff up, sort of like a milkweed escaping its pod and letting its fluffy fibers stretch out. With RS-2 carbs, that is essentially adding lots of water molecules which lets the molecule fluff up. That creates lots of entry points for digestive enzymes to chop up the long chains of glucose into single glucose molecules. Think of a dandelion seed that you blow on. It's all puffy with many points of attachment for enzymes to digest. They can do so, rapidly. Most of what we eat is RS-2. Eat a serving of rice or hot potatoes, and your glucose spikes rapidly. One serving of rice and my glucose will go from 95 to 160 in half an hour.

RS-3 is RS-2 cooled down after cooking. The long strings of glucose contract and curl up. They can't get back to their original source of manufactured density, but their twisting and curling make it hard for enzymes to get in to digest. RS-3 is like white rice, heated up and cooked (fluffy and rapidly digested), then put in the fridge and cooled down. Those long chains coil up. Enzymes can't get it. Glucose rises much less rapidly. Cooked rice, pasta, and cooked potatoes, cooled down, are resistant starches. Blood sugar rises much more slowly.

RS-4 is an artificial, man-made resistant starch that is chemically altered to make thickening agents for packaged food. You are likely getting quite a lot of this. They aren't made by nature. They may be useful too, just need research to prove their safety.

The magic of resistant starches is that they don't get digested in your small bowel, and therefore make it to your colon where your community of bacteria that define many features of your well-being reside. They love resistant starches and blossom. Research is now proving that. More resistant starches turn into more beneficial bacteria. They make loads of beta-hydroxybutyrate which plays a huge role in calming inflammation. The alteration of your biome is critical to many diseases. A fine study from China giving increased resistant starches to folks with fatty liver found about a 10% reduction in intra-hepatic triglycerides, the fats that infiltrate and damage the liver.

Americans get about 3.5 grams of resistant starches a day. It is thought that we are optimally served if we get 20-35 grams of fiber a day. There is pretty good evidence that folks eating over 30 grams of fiber a day simply never get diverticulitis, appendicitis, colon cancer, heart disease, GERD, or irritable bowel. Goodness, that's what afflicts all of us.

www.What will Work for me. Well, the best dietary sources of resistant starches are raw potatoes and green bananas. That doesn't work very well. But raw potato starch added to a smoothie works just fine. Beans are magnificent sources. All beans. Oatmeal is another great source. Make a Muesli breakfast of raw rolled oats with some raisins figs, and slivered almonds. Maybe better yet is to get in the habit of making extra rice and eating it the next day, cold. Ditto for potato salad. You get to have some carbs, in a good form. It's surprisingly good for you. I was just visiting our grandchildren in Switzerland. Our hotel breakfast every morning was Muesli. I loved it. No sugar needed.

References: Cell Metabolism , mSphere, Nurition Jr, Jr Amer Dietetic Association, HealthLine, GimmesomeOven, Br Jr of Nutrition, Global Prebiotic Association, , National Geographic, 

Pop Quiz

1. What is resistant starch?                 Answer: Carbohydrates that resist digestion for several reasons: still in their raw, tightly packed form, cooked and cooled down, or naturally high in fiber (like beans).

2. What happens to the stored form of glucose in plant carbohydrates when it is heated up with lots of water? Answer: Imagine a dandelion or milkweed seed that is tightly packed until its envelope opens. They fluff up and spread all the arms of the "amylose" (that's the molecule of long chains of glucose that we call carbs) molecule out creating a massive increase in enzyme accessibility. Enzymes can then cut the bonds between the glucose molecules at a thousands-per-second rate.

3. Cooling of pasta, rice, and potatoes does what to the starch. molecule?                        Answer: it shrinks down the long chain of glucose molecules into a tangled web that is all coiled up again. Enzymes can't digest it as quickly. It's that simple.

4. Name some really good sources of resistant starches.                        Answer: raw oats, all beans, cooled rice/potatoes/pasta, green bananas, Jerusalem artichokes

5. Can I just take a pill?                      Answer. Well, yes. You can buy Inulin, which all by itself is a resistant starch. It is extracted mostly from Jerusalem artichokes, chicory, and onions. But far better to make your food be rich in resistant starches.