For the past couple of years, resistant starches have begun making the news among health food advocates.
I must admit, I was resistant myself. I was skeptical about the new wonder-food touted to feed good bacteria in our guts and improve general health. I was shaped by the anti-starch diva herself, creator of the GAPS diet, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, who teaches that starches are hard to digest and best to be avoided by all who need healing in their gut.
It was time I read all the facts and came to some conclusions of my own.
Who would benefit, if anyone, from intentionally consuming foods containing resistant starches?
WHAT ARE RESISTANT STARCHES?
Resistant starches are starches found in common foods, potatoes, beans, rice, green bananas, that resist being digested and therefore, they make it all the way to the large intestine and end up being food for good bacteria.
The foods that probiotics eat are called prebiotics. Resistant starches are one variety of prebiotic starch that feed certain species of gut bacteria.
A popular enthusiasm that goes hand and hand with this discovery is that humans are 90% microflora. It makes sense: if we feed the flora we will be healthier.
The science behind this assessment surrounds the compound butyrate. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid produced by friendly bacteria when they’ve consumed resistant starch. The beauty of butyrate is that the cells of the colon are fueled by it. Colon cells that consume butyrate are happy cells, thus a healthy colon.
Those of us with autoimmune diseases have compromised gut linings. Let us take a quick look at the gut, and how the cells there function.
The gut lining has multiple layers: the epithelial layer is made up of epithelial cells but there are several other kinds of cells as well, each having a unique function: secreting mucus and anti-microbial peptites. The cells that consume butyrate are T reg or T cells. T cells provide a barrier of defense against pathogens and help strengthen the immune system.
It makes sense that to feed them would be beneficial, especially for those with autoimmune diseases. An abundance of T cells in laboratory rats (sorry, little guys) have been shown repeatedly to reduce inflammation and even to prevent immune responses. T cells can actually recognize antigens and have been shown to prevent colitis! (source)
In addition to these claims, T cell regeneration is expected to lower the risk of colon cancer, the 4th most common form of cancer to cause death internationally.
Any abundance of butyrate, up to a certain point, that isn’t consumed by the T cells moves into the bloodstream and benefits insulin levels and liver function.
HOW BEST TO CONSUME RESISTANT STARCH
Very green plantains are my favorite source of resistant starch. Organic plantains are easy for most of us to source and they’re a whole food.
Green plantains can be sliced and dehydrated for a snack similar to banana chips or they may be added to smoothies to hide the starchy quality.
Surprisingly, most advocates for increasing RS in one’s daily diet recommend a factory-made food, Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch, working up to 2-4 T. a day!
I don’t agree with this approach.
The goal for restored health involves getting away from factory-made foods and having a whole food diet. Potato starch may feed good bacteria; but there are plenty of whole foods that do that too. What potatoes does Bob use to make that starch? (Hint: they’re not organic.) Yulch!
Health is not bought with convenience foods.
IS RESISTANT STARCH RIGHT FOR EVERYONE?
No.
Moderate voices in this discussion include Sarah Ballantyne, M.D., aka The Paleo Mom, and Chris Kresser, M.S., L.Ac, who understand that each individual’s body is unique and subtleties of genetics and health history play in considerably.
The average healthy person, or someone who has largely healed their leaky gut, is advised to experiment with introducing multiple sources of resistant starch, since different kinds of resistant starches feed different beneficial bacteria and sensitivities to different resistant starch foods will vary.
Those who have autoimmune issues vary widely in the resistant starch foods they can handle: one patient might see healing from IBS symptoms with the introduction of green plantains but many patients see a flare-up of symptoms when they attempt resistant starch foods, especially in any quantity.
GAPS patients and most who are still in the trenches of healing are advised to wait on all starches. These long-chain sugars can exhaust the enterocyte gut cells that are trying to regenerate, while also feeding invasive pathogens, sabotaging the purpose of the diet.
IN CONCLUSION
I make plantain chips for my own family.
So yes, I think the starches are beneficial!
Given my appreciation for the Paleo diet, I also respect that cooked and cooled grains and legumes can have a purpose in the healthy person’s diet.
One thing not to forget?
Grains and beans must still be soaked and pre-digested properly. If you source resistant starches from these foods, they will only do your body good if you break down their phytates and enzyme inhibitors first.
For more information on how to prepare soaked beans and rice, here’s a recipe for a resistant starch rice and bean salad.
(top photo: stevendepolo)
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Resistant starch in green plantains is RS2. When you heat it up converts to regular starch. So cooked plantains have very little RS left. You need to eat them raw to get the RS2. Cooked and cooled rice and potatoes have RS3. DrBG has the best info about RS.
http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.ca/?m=1
I can’t find organic plantains except mail order with $100 shipping! Any sourcing ideas? Drive to Miami? I’m in the New England area…
Although I recommend and enjoy green plantains as an excellent source for RS, you might try cooked and cooled rice or potatoes, as an alternative that is quite good, versatile and much more easily accessible to you. 🙂
I use Bob’s Red Mill modified potato starch to get my resistant starch. Unfortunately, cooked and cooled potatoes and rice or green bananas contain too many NON-resistant starches. For people like me (type 2 diabetics or really carb sensitive people), the whole natural sources do more harm than good.
My n=1 experiment with Red Mill modified potato starch wrecked my system…
http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.sg/2014/12/high-dose-potato-starch-can-make-you.html
Looks like I am not the only one 🙁
So sorry to hear this. Thanks for sharing. I think we need more feedback from those who’ve tried the potato starch with ill-success, since so many health gurus are now recommending this factory made non-whole food.
Soaking potatoes for a few hours tempers non resistant starch. Twice cooking them converts almost all of what’s left to resistant starch. Don’t throw out those leftover potatoes!
Great post!
Thanks Food Renegade~ and TEO!
RS3 is ancestral and aligned with our DNA blueprints — our gut flora love cooked starches when they are crystalized and resistant to our human amylase degradation. RS3 rich foods also contain immunoprotective oligosacharides which are just like the human milk oligosaccharides in breastmilk.
I talk about what happened with me and many other adverse gut reactions to raw resistant starches with Dave Asprey on the Bulletproof podcast in Dec.
http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.com/2014/12/new-bulletproof-podcast-with-dave.html?m=1
What I see consistently on gut testing is a degradation of several beneficial health biomarkers with high dose Bob’s red mill potato starch:
–lack of weight loss and difficulty losing body fat (some gain fat or even develop fatty liver/NASH)
–lack of dramatic improvement with Hgba1c’s in diabetics good (fiber and prebiotics should lower a1c)
–the worse, loss of gut diversity and our good gut symbionts that are shown in studies to be directly correlated to improvements in metabolism and intestinal permeability
Is uncooked unmodified starch part of why Free The Fat Animal has uncontrolled Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism — he looks over 300 lbs and very bloated!
http://itsthewooo.blogspot.com/2014/12/what-happens-in-hashimotos-thyroiditis.html
I totally agree with you! I think each person has his or her own “diet” they should follow, some avoiding certain things, while others avoid other things. If it makes you sick, don’t eat it. If avoiding it didn’t help, it’s probably not what’s making you sick. As long as everyone eats healthy real food.
Really great info, I had no idea about resistant starches. There’s organic plantains at my local natural foods co-op, I’ll have to try some.
I try to listen to my body when it comes to resistant starch or any other food. I have found Tiger Nuts and I do really well together – they’re high in resistant starch from what I understand. Thanks for the post.
Wow, this is really interesting. I didn’t know about resistant starches… I’ll definitely have to look into this more! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Dried green plantains are great, I make a batch once a month or so. I like slicing one plantain into 4 or 5 long slabs and air-drying until crunchy. They make great crackers or just eat plain. An acquired taste, but I love them.
I also make my own potato starch. Just drop 1 big potato in my Jack Lalanne juicer and out comes juice and the starch settles to the bottom. 4-6TBS from 1 big potato.
Don’t discount potato starch just because you don’t approve of Bob’s Red Mill brand. The stuff you buy in the store is actually processed quite minimally compared to things like inulin, probiotics, or vitamins. It’s just starch granules removed from potatoes. No heat is used. No chemical reactions.
I wish there was a PS on the market certified organic and non-GMO. But easy enough to make your own. Lots of videos on You Tube, but my juicer works best!
I’ll keep it brief because I’m not well versed in RS but I did find the rice and beans recipe share was pin-worthy! And, if it’s any consolation, Bob’s Red Mill sources all non-GMO ingredients; however, because this particular ingredient is not organic, there is a chance of heavy pesticide use (even organics use some pesticides per the USDA organic website) good info nonetheless. I’ve pinned it to my Bits of Nutrition board. Thanks!
I learn something new everyday! I had never heard of resistant starches before. Thank you for the education!
Great info here. Thanks. I agree not every diet is for every person. I remember hearing an NPR story about the gut and the microbes. It was really interesting, and I think it’s great that this kind of information is getting into the main stream of society. Knowledge is power!
Great information. I’m not that knowledgeable about resistant starches. I only know that potatoes aren’t recommended for people that are trying to lose weight – but I thought it had more to do with carbs than starch. Or are they both tightly related? I’ll be delving into a little more research to better understand. Thanks!
DOES RICE NEED TO BE SOAKED-FERMENTED-SPROUTED, ALSO?? DOES IT MATTER IF IT IS BROWN OR WHITE?
Yes, the rice still needs to be predigested. Soaking it or using sprouted flour are both great techniques, as is souring the dough. Brown rice is more nutritious, but only if this predigestion has occurred. Otherwise, white rice is nutrient deficient, except for the resistant starch.
Does rice need to be prepared also?? Does it matter if it is brown or polished white?? ***
White rice is deprived of all nutrition and has added chemicals. Wild or brown rice is a much healthier solution. Still I will not eat rice
Wow that is a lot of information on resistant starch. Thank you for sharing. I made some resistant starch rice with coconut oil. Here are my findings: http://type-2-diabetes-mellitus.com/resistant-starch-foods-basmati-rice/
I have rheumatoid arthritis and have tried doing a more paleo approach to food. I’ve given up dairy yogurt, but have tried coconut and almond yogurts. I just noticed over the weekend that they’re both including rice starch. Will this level of rice further irritate my gut?
Thanks,
Cindy
Hi Cindy, often the best approach to knowing if we have a food sensitivity is pulling it out for a while and then reintroducing it, to see if any symptoms return or worsen. Beyond that, we are each quite individual in how and what we’re sensitive to. Best wishes as you figure it out! 😉
Hi, how do you make your plantain chips? I heard that if you fry them they lose their resistant starch?
Correct. They need to be dehydrated.
Shame on you for endorsing paleo that murders billions of cows pigs chickens tortured murdered every day for humans taste buds!! Don’t ever say you care about animals in your life as you pat others to cut their throats! You’re a despicable woman and don’t give me your grass fed organic bullcrap, let me throw you in the death house for someones taste buds!
Thank You for your wonderful article. It was very informative. I’m looking into buying a probiotic for women with 50 million CFU and 16 strains. It has Organic potato [resistant starch] (tuber)‚ organic acacia fiber (A. senegal). It seems as I’m not breaking down meat very well. Probably this is not a good probiotic for me right? By the way what kind of probiotic do you use?
Thank You 🙂
how do you make plantain chips?