For my next installment on Resistant Starch, the following post documents an N=2 (two study subjects) collaboration to record blood glucose readings in different states of dieting, with and without RS. The following was assembled by regular commenter Marie (a real life scientist in her day job) and ‘Tatertot Tim’, the guy who brought RS to Free the Animal months ago and has probably read more of the studies going back 30 years than anyone currently living on the planet.
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After reading the information you posted from Tim and yourself on resistant starch, I wanted to verify personally whether my father could take it so that he could get the immunological and gut-healing effects of RS, while staying in ketosis. He is on a severe ketogenic diet for cancer and must remain continually in ketosis.
At that point, Tim and I started to collaborate, looking at a second possibility raised by the literature, that of “blunting” of the Blood Glucose (BG) rise by resistant starch when taken together or before a high-glycemic food. A large (300 gram or 2/3 pound) cooked potato is a good test for this blunting effect, as it normally gives a large rise in BG when eaten without any added resistant starch.
These slides of graphical comparisons tell our story.
1. For tolerance of ketosis to RS/PS, the results are unequivocal. There is NO rise in BG when taking PS alone or with a ketogenic meal. Ketostix also confirm that ketosis is not disturbed.
2. For RS/PS blunting effect when taken together with hi-glycemic food, there is clearly a blunting effect for both Tim and myself, while you can see from my additional results that the degree of that effect depends on the immediate diet history and the long-term use of RS.
(It should be noted that I’m a healthy female in my mid-40‘s with no history of metabolic disease nor obesity and I respond very quickly to diet changes. Tim is a currently healthy male in his mid 40s with a history of significant metabolic issues that have been conquered for many years now. So between us, we span quite a range of backgrounds.)
The strongest blunting effect is under what may be considered ‘normal’ eating conditions for most people; that is, not in ketosis and not prolonged fasting or intermittent fasting. Under such normal conditions, there is only a very small rise in BG (~ 28 points) for me when eating a cooked potato after drinking 4 tablespoon of potato starch stirred in water. Various timings of the PS in combination of the potato were tried, details in graphs. You see no blunting while in actual ketosis, but various levels of blunting effect in other states.
It’s not a surprise to see different responses to fasting as they depend on the length of the fast and state of glycogen stores previously. Long-enough fasting and/or continual ketosis cause a normal physiological insulin resistance which is temporary and reversible, not to be confused with the pathological kind in metabolic syndrome or diabetes.
3. There is also an apparent ‘second meal effect’ or long-term effect from simply taking 4 tablespoons of RS every day, which improves the blunting in a ‘normal’ metabolic state. When LC, in ketosis, or fasting regularly, the blunting was less pronounced or, to state it the opposite way, RS/PS does not afford the same dramatic results. What that means metabolically over the long term is an open question.
OK, now for the version in pictures. Restarting the count.
1. Ketosis is Not Disturbed By Ingesting Resistant Starch Alone.
Marie’s Results (click to open full size)
2. Resistant Starch Blunts Blood Glucose When NOT in Ketosis. The blunting effect of PS is evident when compared to the Control of potato alone. The second control was done to check for any difference in BG response to potato alone after consuming PS daily for two months, but no additional supplementation with or before the meal. The third slide is with supplemental RS/PS.
Control – No RS
Daily RS Ingestion; No Supplemental RS With Meal
Daily RS Ingestion + Supplemental RS Before Meal
Here’s a single-graph comparison of the blunting effects when resistant starch in the form of unmodified potato starch is taken an hour prior. This is under normal dietary conditions, not ketosis or significant fasting.
Big Blunting
3. Blunting Effect of Potato Starch Under Various Immediate Diet Histories.
Various Dietary Conditions (click for full size)
Ketosis and Ketosis + Fasting (click for full size)
4. Blunting Effect of RS/PS In Ketosis; After 2 + Months of Daily RS/PS.
Longer Term RS Blunting While in Ketosis
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There you have it. Lots of data. For me, it all adds up to the same thing: Resistant Starch is absolutely NOT going to hurt you ever, even if diabetic. If you are in ketosis or fast regularly, the results are not as profound but there appears to be a subtile benefit over time. If you eat a normal, moderate carb diet (150-200g daily) the results are profound, both for daily ingestion and supplemental ingestion with each starchy meal. If you eat SAD and just can’t stop, then it’s probably most important to be supplementing RS daily.
For those who wish to verify data integrity or otherwise play with yourselves, here’s the data files for download (.numbers) (.xls).
Supplementing RS is too easy. You can use Potato Starch
Later, I’ll do a post with a list of all RS posts with summaries to date.
golooraam 
AJ 
Tim 
John
a little frustrated with RS as the gas is so bad
I was doing 3 tbs a day, but yikes, so painful!
perhaps I cut it to 1-2 tbs and introduce some carbs into my evening meal?
any suggestions from the clan in terms of fatloss?
Great work.
Is this data based on rounded tbls or flat tbls of PS? Given the consistency of PS, rounded tbls are likely twice the amount as a flat measurement.
Sorry if I’m slicing the bologna too thin here….
@golooraam:
Farts are funny. But, yea, go down to 1-2T, then up it. Go days with zero as well, let things settle out. There’s trillions of bacteria.
no worries – I slice the bologna waaay too thin sometimes
I usually go a flat tablespoon
I spent a week or so in Maui last week and went RS free after my wife almost kicked me out of bed the first night for being a stinky zepelin
will resume this week if I toss in taters to my evening meal
it appears as though based on this blog post that if one is going to use this, it’s best to use with some good clean carbs
btw, does Richard’s pizza recipe count as clean carbs? :)
it looked so delish
Got on the RS bandwagon some months ago at the same time as many of you here and have continued to take 3-4 tbs six days a week. My diet (and exercise) has remained unchanged other than the addition of mostly PS with the occasional dose of plantain flour. I am now leaner. That is the only truly objective observation I can share. However, it *seems* that as the months roll by I am satiated with less food than before and the overwhelming desire I would have on the weekends for some fructose-containing dessert has dwindled to just a shadow of its former self.
@Golorooraam:
Please tell me you did the sunrise bike ride 40 miles down Haleakala with 200 yards of peddling (one of my best memories ever).
Has anyone noticed foods that when consumed with RS produce tremendous farts while other foods produce none at all? Bananas + RS = trouble. Cooked potato + RS = no gas at all.
Hi Richard!
Sad to say, i loathe bike riders (actually that’s not true I love you and have a few great friends who are avid cyclists I guess I ‘m just irritated at some of my lib SF bay area friends who are preachy cyclists, rant over)
so all jesting aside, no we didn’t do Haleakala this time, I didn’t know one could bike ride down it – I guess I’ll put it down for next time, I could use the biking as I don’t like my chicken calves
I actually watched your onion and mushroom omelette video about 3 times and made omelettes each morning while sipping coffee with coconut cream
I kept laughing to myself when you made fun of people whining about unevenly cut onions and mushrooms….
I did manage to get some perfectly ripe sweet corn which I started to add to my omelettes, wow, just wow – one of the best eats I have made in a while
yes Richard – some of us even take your blog with us on vacation :)
Interesting N1s !!
@EF – When doing these experiments, 4TBS was exactly a packed 1/4 cup. In normal life, 4TBS could be in reality 3 -6 packed TBS’, lol, I don’t really measure that carefully.
Another great post Richard regarding RS.
I’m wondering if it’s best to take the 4TBS in one dose, or spread out over the day in two 2 TBS doses?
Looking forward to the next post.
Thanks for this health changing info.
Just another N=1 report. Two weeks of 2 T twice per day (1/8 cup measuring spoon), usually with water, but sometimes to thicken sauce (after cooling to about 120-130 F). Gas. Annoying, but not painful; has become less frequent.
No apparent change in fat or weight. I was hoping for a lucky stall-breaking effect, but not yet.
Good to know that it doesn’t obviously cause me problems. Not convinced that I should continue. That’s the problem with invisible beneficial effects, I suppose.
About to travel in Europe for 7 weeks, and not sure where I’ll be able to find the stuff, so now I get to see what happens when I now go without.
5 months into resistant starch. The winds have subsided, as I have been experimenting constantly with dosage & timing. Some days I have none, some I have 2 tbsp, most I have 4 tbsp. Am now using a mix of PS & tapioca, & will soon add in some plantain. I drink it all down with plain old water in the evening (1 tbsp before dinner & 1 tbsp an hour before bedtime. I have 2 tbsp every morning with my morning smoothie. The key for me is constantly mixing it up (dosage & type of RS). My TMI is my predominate barometer for how things are going… All I can say is that it is the EXACT same thing every morning. Windage is now down to the occasional light breeze. Another effect is that I’m now down to two meals/day… I have absolutely no need or desire to eat lunch. My daily calorie consumption is down by close to 1000 (close to 3000/day total). My weight is exactly the same when I started & I certainly don’t need to lose any! Looks like I’ll keep it up using PS, tapioca & plantain to achieve bacterial diversity.
Does anyone know how much RS that winter squash has? I used to eat quite a lot of butternut squash, and felt it was somehow different than other starchy foods. Any data on this?
Hi!
I’be keen using PS for about 3 weeks, but the fartage still hasn’t subsided.. if anything it’ worse. Can any of you guys who’s been getting resistant starch for a
long time say when they noticed a reduction in gas?
You say that potatoes have more resistant starch when it’s cold. Shouldn’t we be measuring the RS content when the potatoes are at body temperature? By the time they get to your stomach or at the very least your small intestines won’t they be at body temperature?
It’s not that the potato is cold, its that it has been cooked, then cooled. You don’t have to eat it cold. The chemical change happens after cooking and then cooling, beyond that, I believe you can eat the potato at any temperature you desire, but someone correct me, if I am mistaken.
@Jerry – I don’t think squash has much RS in it at all, but I’ve never seen it called out by name in a study, either. If you look at the veggie section https://freetheanimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Resistant-Starch-in-Foods.pdf squash-like foods such as pumpkin and gourds have under 1g of RS per 100g, so I would assume winter squash would be the same low percentage. I could be wrong, though, if anyone finds different, please tell us!
@Eric – I think for me it was about 3-4 weeks. I started out with 4TBS/day, I usually recommend people start out with 1TBS/day and up it after a week. The studies indicate it should take 3-4 weeks for all the major changes in gut microbe communities to happen. If you are missing key microbes, it may never happen. If you find discomfort at higher amounts, back off to 1TBS/day and take it with yogurt, kefir, or alongside sauerkraut or a probiotic supplement of some sort.
@JB Rainsberger – I feel your sentiments exactly. The cool thing about RS is you can see some nearly immediate changes in gut flora as evidenced by better bowel movements and gas…since this is a gut microbe thing, that is where you should see it first. Almost as immediate are the changes in BG regulation if you look for such things. Many report better sleep right away. A bit more digging should show changes for the better in trigs and cholesterol. The hidden benefits are hard to see, but they are there: better gut microbes mean improved uptake of vitamins and minerals as well as increased production of gut-made vitamins (k2 for one) and neurotransmitters (like serotonin) and chelation/elimination of heavy metals (Thanks Dr. BG for that one!).
If you could bioposy as segment of your large intestine after a month or so of taking supplemental potato starch (I don’t recommend it), you would see what they see when they look at pig’s intestines who have been fed raw potato starch in experiments like this one: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17936196
“RPS (raw potato starch)-fed pigs had reduced apoptosis in the crypts, lamina propria and lymphoid nodules in the colon, and ileal Peyer’s patches. Fermentation of RPS reduced indices associated with damage to epithelial cells, such as crypt cell proliferation and magnesium excretion, whereas mucin sulfuration was increased, which promotes epithelial protection. The numbers of intraepithelial T cells and of blood leukocytes, neutrophils, and lymphocytes, mainly T-helper lymphocytes, were reduced in RPS pigs.
CONCLUSION: Long-term intake of RPS induces pronounced changes in the colonic environment, reduces damage to colonocytes, and improves mucosal integrity, reducing colonic and systemic immune reactivity, for which health benefits in inflammatory conditions are likely to be associated.”
@tatertot and @jb rainsberger, I concur! Hang in there, JB, with all the invisible changes happening to you the outward ones will tag along. I wouldn’t give up on RS so quickly. Even if you didn’t get the Charles Atlas bod, at least you’re doing your part to keep yourself healthy and out of the cancer ward. Enjoy Europe.
Oh, and another thing on dosing and timing…
I personally feel that if you are taking potato starch as a supplement, it may be best to take it all at once. RS gets fermented very fast once it hits the large intestine, so taking a small dose several times a day means it is all fermented in the first (proximal, ascending) part of the large intestine. Taking a bigger bolus dose of 20-40g (2-4TBS) all at once means it will overwhelm the proximal end and force fermentation in the transverse and descending parts (distal end) of the colon.
Also, there is a study http://jn.nutrition.org/content/129/11/2081.full (rats anyway) that shows when taking an RS supplement alongside another fermenting fiber, psyllium in this case, it shifts the fermentation sites even further.
Taking small doses throughout the day probably isn’t a waste of time, but if you are looking for a reason to take it all at once, this is probably it. Studies show that almost no human can ferment over 50g at one time, but 10g is fermented very fast. So, somewhere between 20-40g is probably the right amount to take to flood your intestine with RS and make it do it’s job and get strong in return.
Tatertot, maybe there is another effect of taking RS several x day : the soluble fiber binds to the bile and avoid reabsorbing it. Useful when detoxing. I just take some red lentils alone, half hour before meals. I don’t know what will be the results as I seem to have a problem with RS since ever!
Tater, do you think 2 tbsp twice a day is a happy medium, as opposed to taking all 4 in the morning? Taking 4 at once is rather extreme for me. Interesting info about smaller doses.
@Ron – There is no right answer. I think 2×2 is a good, and who knows, maybe even preferable.
2TBS is about 18g of RS. That is more than 3 times the US average of RS intake. I think even taking 1TBS a day is great as that more than doubles most people’s intake.
Possibly taking it in a 2×2 fashion as you suggest is really good as it will get a good sized flood of RS into the intestines and cause fermentation twice in one day. Another bonus of RS is that it brings other microbes along with it–the probiotics in any yogurt, kefir, or fermented veggies you eat, for instance. So if your 2X2 also includes a fermented food or drink, that’s really good.
I think one reason that just eating lots of RS rich foods throughout the day doesn’t seem to have the same effect as taking RS as a raw starch supplement is that when you eat it as food, it trickles in–a green banana for breakfast, potato salad at lunch, cold rice and beans with dinner. Plus it comes through slower when eaten with other foods–so it just gets burned up as soon as it hits the large intestine–kind of like throwing handfuls of sawdust on a fire–you should be throwing logs on there if you really want it to burn!
4 T Unmodified PS daily on PSMF
I am a little jealous that I had zero farts as I had meetings with fellow execs that I am not too fond of and was hoping for a round of SBD’s.
I have been sleeping great but I am noticeably more groggy in the morning.
Took 4 T before a cheat meal and felt great for two days after – felt leaner.
After the cheat, I am actually up a few pounds but could just be water weight.
The past several days, I have felt bloated and the scale is inching upwards.
Going to keep going. I would like to hear from others who have lost weight taking 4T of PS.
“won’t they be at body temperature”
Rob gets the award for most ignorant question asked in thousands of comments on a dozen posts.
No mercy.
“and was hoping for a round of SBD’s.”
Ok, that’s it. Too many people are figuring out my schtick.
Fuck the scale. This is long term appetite and hunger regulation.
Wow, all really interesting comments. Just got off work, wading in here… :)
golooram,
yes, by all means, as Richard and tatertot said, start small (1-2tbsp) and increase as you get adjusted. It can take some weeks for the good bugs to proliferate with RS, until they crowd out other bugs that can’t use RS as efficiently (which give you gas). How much time and how much gas you get at first will depend on each person’s microbiome composition.
However, are you taking any probiotics at the same time? If you get a lot of noxious gas, taking yogurt or some other fermented food might help you populate the gut sooner with good bugs. In fact, there seems to be a synergistic effect, so one suggestion is to take RS at the same time as your probiotic of choice – the RS may help the good bugs get all the way to the colon.
Kayumochi,
I’ve noticed a carb-type effect too for gas.
I had NO issues with gas when doing this at first, when the main carb was cooked potato, but a couple of months later when I tried some sugars, there was a small effect. This effect is only if I take it at roughly the same time as the sugar (honey, chocolate ice cream), not if I took RS in the morning, say, and had dessert that night.
The sugars are the only ones that bother me if approx.concurrent with RS, any ‘whole’ starches seem to be fine for me (potato, rice, beans) even if RS is taken at the same time.
Combining your banana info with my sugar info, it’s suddenly possible that the fructose in the sugar is the key.
Can you think back to any other ‘loud’ combinations you’ve noticed and see if fructose was involved? Even one piece of evidence with a starch or another ‘sugar’ (lactose, say?) would falsify that idea quickly :)
Meanwhile, I suspect that whether or not someone has been eating wheat (and how recently) will also affect the gut biome recomposition, since wheat has its own effects on the gut.
I can’t eat wheat, so have no personal info on that with RS.
Eric,
if no change at all after 3 weeks, you’re possibly missing some good bugs. I concur with Tatertot, you may need some fermented foods or probiotic capsules.
Also, take them if you can at the same time as RS, there’s a possible synergistic effect that has the RS protecting the probiotics, helping more of them reach the colon. “Possible”, so it’s not proven, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to take concurrently in case you can maximize your chances and speed along good changes.
A lot of people have a damaged gut biome for many reasons, but a common reason is antibiotics – and this is well known medically. I remember two decades ago my Canadian doctors always telling me to eat yogurt when they prescribed antibiotics. Today, the doctors in Greece do this as a matter of course, they even prescribe the capsules to make the point. I’ve heard second hand that the same happens in Italy and France. In the States however, they ignore this antibiotic effect even though it’s so obvious immediately: many people get diarrhea or gastrointestinal upset with antibiotics.
Cathy,
“… at least you’re doing your part to keep yourself healthy and out of the cancer ward” – succinctly perfect! :)
Ron,
great on the ‘mixing it up’! Meanwhile, did I understand correctly that your calories are now Less by 1000/day, but your weight has stayed the same?
Marie – Yes, you read that correctly… my weight is holding steady. I’m 6’/~148#, on a small frame. Been strict “paleo” for over 3 yrs & run uphill sprint intervals/bodyweight exercises 3 days/wk. I eat HF/moderate protein… not anal about carbs (I eat potatoes, rice, fruit, veggies). The RS simply has moderated my appetite, but no weight loss, which I sure as hell don’t want! If anything, body composition is a little better. Also, my workout stamina/performance has improved. Can’t explain it.
Ron,
o.k, I can see why you don’t want to lose any weight at 148lbs for 6feet.
By any chance, did you try to gain muscle/weight before the RS and were not able to while eating 4000Cal/day?
Because at that caloric intake, unless you were in competition training to the tune of half a marathon/day (1200 kCal expenditure, on average), there’s a mismatch between weight and calories that may be the clue to what’s happening now. For your weight and the activity level you’ve indicated, I’d say 3000Cal/day is about right for maintenance. Even as low as 2600Cal. An improved microbiome would improve your digestion efficiency.
However, if I may ask, how old are you? My brother up until 25-26years old could eat a horse and not gain weight. Really, a sight to behold. Lots of young men are like that. In which case I take back the mismatch idea and agree, this is a mystery :)
Marie – I’m 55 & still have a very healthy metabolism. When I started “paleo,” I weighed about 165… lost about 25# in about 3 months & gained almost 10# of it back over the next couple of months as I settled into a regimen. Didn’t really try to gain much muscle, as I don’t like to lift weights, but I am significantly stronger now than I was due to effective body-weight exercises (handstand pushups, etc.). If I cut out the RS, I bet I could add those 1000 calories back & still maintain weight. It’s a mystery to me, but perhaps the sprint intervals have much to do with it. I run them as hard as I can, at a very fast pace on a very steep 100 yd. hill. Some say they enable the body to burn fat for hours.
Ron, that’s just damn impressive.
O.k., the HIIT may explain why you could burn 4000cal/day without gaining weight, but there’s still no explanation as to why you can get by on 1000 less calories now (since you’ve been doing the same HIIT before and after RS).
So, try your bet why don’t you? Cut out RS tomorrow and increase you caloric consumption by 1000Cal/day. Do it just for a week and see if you gain weight?
I say just a week, because the gut biome won’t deteriorate that fast after you stop taking RS, so you’re Only not taking RS, ie. only changing one parameter (rather than the composite effects of not taking RS And changing your biome because of stopping RS, which would occur over a longer time).
If you do gain weight, it’s because your gut is more efficient now (so 1000Cal is too much now), due to your gut biome improving during the months you’ve been taking RS.
If you don’t gain weight, nothing is different efficiency-wise about your guts before and after the 5 month RS treatment and instead you’ve got something special happening with just RS ingestion (I can’t imagine what, but that’s why it’s interesting).
Of course, I’m only prompting you because I’m exceptionally curious (!) Being happy with what you’re doing is important and you may not want to rock that boat :)
I wonder what the effects of alcohol (spirits and dry wine – not beer) are on gut biome … I think I read somewhere that booze can kill off bacteria and you’d think that it would act like an antibiotic, but I don’t get any change in bowel / gut sensations after drinking (daily). Interesting topic.
Anyone with different experiences?
-Al
Salut!
Here is my own observations (not that many, I don’t measure things as I have no known BG issues, insulin resistance problems, etc):
– I do not supplement every day. It is rather random, and depends on what I ate (days with RS rich foods like green bananas, buckwheat or beans, etc, I don’t – while days when I am mostly carnivorous, I do). I always have full fat sheep yogurt (a staple, so I get probiotics as well). I usually supplement PS in the evening after dinner.
– sleep: same, I go to bed around 22h (+/- one hour), wake up at 3am, fall asleep right away until 6h30-7am. I don’t care about the waking up.
– dreams: very vivid but it is not different from usual, I always had vivid dreams. Maybe I have them more frequently though. I dreamed sort of semi-consciously a few nights back and could fly around … great stuff :)
– fartage: first days were horrible. My wife was upset … I stopped, increased RS rich foods, and resumed PS after a while -> barely any fartage. I think that was a better strategy, get your gut to adapt to real RS rich foods first, then supplement if you want.
– temperature: quite often, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I am a real oven, I am giving off a lot of heat! In fact, I would say I am a lot warmer than I used to be. It is a bit cold these days but I walk to work in T-shirt …
– poop: regular, as always. Maybe more volume.
I had some bad poop episodes but I think it was due to other gut disruptors (I had a lot of chocolate a while back, full of maltitol – I didn’t know … I avoid the shit now). I eat xylitol and erythritol every day, I have no issue with those. Lactose is also problematic. I cannot drink a glass of milk. I am OK with fermented dairy, I would survive without but I like those (yogurt, cheese).
The reason for my eating RS is that I am convinced that gut health is paramount to a lot of health aspects. I also include some in my home-made ice-creams, smoothies, etc, for the benefit of my kids.
Marie – Great idea for another N=1! As my schedule permits, I plan to do it. A week should be long enough to yield an interesting result.
This is no big surprise. Low carbohydrate/ketogenic diets induce insulin resistance and raise fasting blood glucose, so it seems very obvious that resistant starch would blunt blood sugar spikes better in people eating significant amounts of carbohydrate. Since higher carbohydrate diets promote insulin sensitivity, adding resistant starch would then also increase the blunting even further since your body processes sugars more efficiently as a higher-carber. A person in a LC/KT state is insulin resistant to begin with, so you’re dealing with less efficient “metabolic machinery.”
It’s awesome to see RS be beneficial to EVERYONE, but it’s no surprise the more efficient (i.e. higher carbohydrate) metabolism is going to see amplified effects.
Maybe Tatertot can contribute to the Resistant Starch Wiki discussion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Resistant_starch
I’ve gone on and off the dialy PS since it was brought up here months ago. I can’t say that it suddenly let me loose weight and gain LBM, but it definitely helped some with my fasting blood glucose. Maybe knocked it down 15 points on average.
But better than that is that two years of (TMI ALERT! TMI ALERT!) highly varying bowel movements, I seem to be cured. By highly varying I mean sometimes complete loss of control. (Fortunately, always at home!) My mother started to experience the same problem at around my age (late 60’s) and the events weren’t always at home.
I presumed some months ago that it might be due to my Doxycyclin for Rosacea, so I was eating huge portins of yogurt and cultured buttermilk. Still variable.
Anyway, it does appear, repeat, appear that the PS has fed all the good little critters and my symptoms have essentially disappeared. No more “The Run to the Outhouse,” by Willy Makeit.
Well, to me the surprise was how dramatically the RS blunts the BG spike from a hi-g food in the ‘usual’ metabolic state and also the fact that it works At All in the highly insulin resistant state of fasting ketosis.
The exact mechanism by which the ingestion of RS helps BG control is unknown beyond the evidence that it is mediated by the SCFAs. There seem to be two effects though, a long term one which is likely related to the recomposition of the gut biome and/or an increased density of pancreatic beta cells stimulated by the SCFAs and an immediate one which is interesting on its own. In addition, they seem to work additively.
As for which is the more efficient metabolic state, well, energy-wise it’s absolutely Ketosis (your mitochondria produce by-products/garbage from glucose metabolism, whereas ketones are metabolized cleanly).
So ‘efficiency’ can be a misleading term here, though I understand you just mean the body is better at dealing with glucose when it’s in a state of glucose metabolism. Yes, of course.
That can just as easily have Overwhelmed any effect by the RS though, rather than apparently working synergistically with it. It’s the law of diminishing returns, the better something is, the harder it is to improve it – or in efficiency terms, the more efficient it is, the smaller are the improvements you can make.
Which brings me back to the opening line : the surprise is how dramatically well RS works immediately in a ‘normal’ diet and that it even works at all when someone is insulin resistant if they’ve been taking it for some weeks/months.
Above comment was in answer to ChocoTaco.
Ron, way to go! :)
Looking forward to learning what happens.
Al- Interesting question on alcohol. First off, I don’t know how much alcohol would even get to your lower intestine, seeing as most of it get’s absorbed into the bloodstream. But some probably does. I know from personal experience that a big night drinking will leave you very hungry later in the night, and well into the next day. That could be due to a number of reasons, but a dramatic shift in gut flora could be among them. I read in about a mouse experiment where the mice were raised completely sterile since birth. They were able to live, but they looked weird, needed constant supplementation of B and K vitamins, and also needed about 1/3 more food than normal mice. Wondering… has anybody experienced increased hunger while taking antibiotics (or just after completing them)?
Has anyone ever looked into health or disease correlated to RS consumption in existing populations? I’m curious if any populations stand out with higher RS consumption and if anything interesting health-wise stands out among those populations.
My N=1.
I tried potato starch back in April. Took 1-2 T in the evening and experienced a lot of gas and bloating. Discontinued after a few days.
For 3 months starting in May, I was on a complicated herbal regimen to get rid of h. pylori. Retested in mid-August and was rid of the bug. Totally forgot about resistant starch.
Saw one of tatetot’s postings elsewhere recently and decided to restart potato starch last week. First day – 1 heaping T at night. No gas or bloating. Upped it to 1 heaping T twice a day, again no problem. Within a week I was at 1 heaping T before each of 3 meals, again no gas & no bloating.
I attribute my better experience this time around to a much improved gut biome. Thanks to the above info, I’m going to switch to 2 T twice a day and see how that goes.
What would you guess would happen if you had also added bean consumption with your experiment?
Linda,
that’s pretty clear-cut info, thanks for sharing.
You could of course have improved that biome from the herbal regimen (any new plant matter will affect it) but also, the presence of helicobacter is known to cause gas with certain foods.
Either way, your result illustrates beautifully just how much the starting bacterial composition anywhere in our digestive system can affect gas with RS (or any fermentable fiber, but its hard to get much fermentable fibers from regular foods so may not see it much).
Some people with quite bad gas at the start may have bacterial growth in yet another location, the small intestine (SIBO).
I don’t get gas with it either and never did, except on the rare chance that I eat actual sugar near the time of the RS consumption. There’s another person on this site who has also indicated gas with only limited foods combined with RS. What type of diet do you follow in those three meals you mentioned?
Marie, Tatertot
Mabe it works only for the ones who has low FBG, but not for the ones with high FBG.
I’ve been trying Tapioca Starch and Potato Starch, however I don’t like drinking it so I’ve been experimenting with other ways to get the starch in. I tried cold rice pudding (with potato starch mixed in) one evening and it threw my blood sugar control off for most of the next day. I will try this again earlier in the day at some point as I probably ate it too close to going to bed.
I’ve added it to mashed avocado/salsa and eaten that with dried green plantain chips.
My favourite is dessert though (this way I remember to eat it more often):
Cinnamon Tapicoa Truffles – heat some coconut mana (coconut butter) slightly just to get it runny but not hot. Mix in your starch of choice, I’ve been using tapioca as I find it’s smoother than potato, some cinnamon, vanilla and a small pinch of salt. It is thick and you can roll it into round balls and dust with cinnamon or coat in nuts, coconut, etc.
Ginger Snap Tapioca Truffles – same as above (coconut manna, starch of choice) with molasses, ginger, cinnamon and a small pinch of salt.
You could also do chocolate truffles – I’m abstaining from chocolate but I did fall off the wagon tonight and made:
Elvis Special RS Pudding
Mash up some banana, add some almond butter, RS of choice (I used potato starch), some cocoa powder and a bit of salt. This is so good and I found I could add a bunch of starch to it – I added 2 tbsp potato starch but could have easily added more, I’m not at the point yet where I feel I should consume more than 2 tbsp at at time.
I’m going to start adding it to my kids’ smoothies, as someone else noted and I totally want to make ice cream with it (recently saw an olive oil ice cream recipe that I am intrigued by).
My n=1 is for the morning fasting blood sugar control (not weight loss) and I do notice a drop on days following RS consumption for the most part, but not 100% of the time. I find I need to vary the RS source, a few days of tapioca truffles and my am fasting number heads back up but then a meal with black beans (only 1/2 cup or so needed) knocks it back down.
Chris Kresser talked about RS and specifically mentioned this blog in his Oct 9 podcast, called RHR: Fukushima Radiation, Cavities, and Liver Disease.
I’m interested in the use of RS for chelation/elimination of heavy metals – is there a post about this you can point me to for more information?
Tapioca starch is not rich in RS and is actually straight carbs.. no wonder your blood sugar is spiking!
Michelle, yummy looking recipes, I really like those uses of coconut butter, it’s one of my favorites unrefined so I the aroma of coconut! Thanks for sharing :)
Meanwhile, are you using the PS to help you handle these desserts or is that just your ‘delivery’ system so you don’t feel it? I’d hate to see you eating sweetened desserts every day just in order to get your PS!
As for FBG, from what others have been reporting, it should drop with time, which makes sense, it takes time to get the microbiome rebalanced in favor of the good bugs. There’s both a long term and an immediate effect so you may also be able to handle better specific things like rice.
How long have you been taking the RS daily?
Also, why do you monitor FBG, do you happen to be diabetic/prediabetic (to put the N=1 in context, since metabolic state/diet makes a difference to how one responds to RS at first).