Resistant Starch: The Latest Diet Fad or a Healthful Trend?

Resistant starch, the latest weight loss food trend, adds a new twist to the old “low carb” versus “high carb” diet debate.  Health experts say this is one carb trend they can approve of, especially if people get most of their resistant starch from natural food sources, not just as an additive in specially processed diet foods.

What Is Resistant Starch?

Resistant starch is so named because it resists digestion by enzymes in the digestive tract but can be partially broken down in the large intestine by gut bacteria.

Carbohydrates are made up of sugars, starches, and fibers. Naturally occurring sugars and most starches are easily digested in the small intestine and quickly absorbed into the blood stream. Dietary fibers, on the other hand, pass through the intestine undigested.

Resistant starches fall somewhere between these two extremes. Because they cannot be broken down by digestive enzymes, they pass through the small intestine intact. In the large intestine (colon), they are partly fermented by gut bacteria in a way similar to soluble fibers. For this reason, some researchers think resistant starch should be classified as a third form of fiber.

Does Fermentation of Resistant Starch Produce Calories?

Small amounts of calories are produced when resistant starch ferments, but less than would be released by digesting the same amount of regular starch in the small intestine. The products of resistant starch fermentation have some positive health effects.

 Benefits of Resistant Starch

• Improves regulation of blood sugar
• Increases satiety – in other words, it helps you feel full longer than do easily digested starches
• Increases absorption of minerals like calcium and magnesium
• Decreases blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Increases the amount of fat burned for energy instead of stored
• Reduces the amount of calories converted to fat after digesting a meal
• Promotes healthy bacteria and decreases the number of unhealthy bacterial strains living in the intestine.

The ability of resistant starch to reduce hunger and the amount of fat stored by the body after a meal, as well as increase the amount of fat burned for energy, are key reasons it is seen as an exciting advance in weight management.

Which Foods are Good Sources of Resistant Starch?

Some resistant starches are present in raw foods, while others form during cooking and cooling.  To increase resistant starch content, some foods should be eaten chilled or at room temperature.

• Dried Beans and other legumes are the best source of resistant starch. About half of the starch in these foods resists digestion and the remainder absorb slowly.
• Raw bananas, especially under ripe ones, and cold potatoes are the second best food sources of resistant starch
• Whole grains like pearl barely, long grain brown rice, and bulgur wheat and specialty corn products like high maize corn meal and high amylose cornstarch come in third as sources of resistant starch.

Tips to increase Resistant starch in your diet

• Chose a diet emphasizing whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables
• Add a half-cup of chilled cooked beans (8 grams of resistant starch), barley or brown rice (3 grams of resistant starch) to salad.
• Use hummus or other pureed beans as dips for vegetables and as sandwich spreads in place of mayonnaise.
• Add slightly under- ripened banana slices to cereal or yogurt.
• Buy high maize fiber additive and stir a spoon or two into meal replacement shakes.

Remember, no matter which diet pattern or combination of foods you chose to eat, calories do count. It’s important to watch portion size and numbers of servings you eat each day. Adding resistant starch to your diet can make it easier to satisfy your hunger with less food.