Unusual Questions: Resistant Starch
Recently an Insider asked what I knew about resistant starch and whether it can help control blood sugar in someone whose blood sugar was higher than normal. Here’s what I found.
Resistant starch (RS) is found in many vegetables and some fruits. It resists digestion and absorption, especially in the small intestine. One of the problems: RS is described on the Internet as not digested and absorbed, but that’s not accurate. It resists digestion and absorption in the small intestine but doesn’t block it completely. Because it doesn’t break down to sugar molecules, RS will not spike blood sugar the way non-resistant starch might.
RS is digested by gut bacteria in a fermentation process. Because the RS feeds healthy bacteria, it produces, among other substances, short-chained fatty acids—fats that can be used for energy without being processed by the liver. The highest amount of RS can be found in beans, grains, potatoes, bananas, and plantains.
However, it’s not quite as simple as that because food preparation happens to be important in this process. I’ll cover that as well as some other research on RS in Saturday’s Memo.
What are you prepared to do today?
