Resistant starch - left the carnivore thread

(Bob M) #41

Yet another in a long line of probiotic failures:

Or:

(Ian) #42

Going back to first principles, does anyone know what resistant starch is compared to regular starch and what is the difference that results in a reduced glycemic response?

My understanding is that starch contains amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is a smaller molecule and is made up of liner chains of glucose molecules. Amylopection is a far larger molecule and contains branched chained strings of glucose. Wikipedia tells me that because of its helical structure, amylose is more resistant to digestion compared to amylopectin.

Therefore, I presume the pre-cooking, rinsing and/or reheating results in a change in the relative proportion of amylose to amylopectin, i.e. reduces the amylopectin content.

If correct it may be better to target high amylose foods, rather than go through the laborious process of preparing starch resistant foods. A search of high amylose foods indicates that high amylose grains and other source of starch are being developed for their health benefits.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #43

Resistant starch is a type of man-made fibre, used in processed foods to provide a cheap source of bulk. (The natural fibre is removed from processed foods to make them shelf-stable.) The basic idea is that resistant starch is indigestible, just like natural fibre.

There also is some research to show that if you heat and cool potatoes or rice repeatedly over a number of days, you can increase the fibre content from some low value to a slightly higher value (on the order of an increase from 0.3% to 0.35%). But the catch is that if you heat the starch up again the wrong way, then all the increased fibre reverts to regular starch.

If you must eat carbohydrate, why not chose foods high in natural fibre? That would seem to be the simplest and most logical course.

(Edith) #44

Yeah, when I looked into this I decided that the work and amount of resistant starch wasn’t worth all the carbs. The percentage of resistant starch was just too low.