Open browser-tab dump.
~ Steve Cooksey, a T2 diabetic who undertook his own resistant starch experiment and, just a couple of days ago, reported on the amazing blood glucose regulation of a T1 also trying RS, is still at it. He’s done a “flex test” with a big baked potato.
Punchline, but do read the short post: Typically, he’ll hit 260+ at the one hour mark after eating a big tater, but this time, only got to 160ish, 100 mg/dl less, and it continued to go down to normal ranges more quickly. I’d like to see him add 2-4T to warm mashed potatoes for another test.
~ All this cheap potato starch or green plantain flour (or any number of other high RS starches) to feed gut bacteria is all bullshit, right? OK, well then how come some people are betting millions on getting a patented prescription intervention to essentially do the same thing you can do every day in your own kitchen?
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Dec. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — microbiome TherapeuticsTM LLC, (MBT) today announced completion of a $1.3 million bridge financing. It is intended to support completion of the company’s two ongoing clinical studies and preparations for further clinical trials of lead product NM504, a microbiome modulator in development for type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. The bridge financing was led by current investor BVM Capital, who was joined in the round by other existing MBT investors.
“We welcome our investors’ continuing support as we wrap up our pilot studies of NM504 and prepare for the next phase of clinical trials,” noted Steve Orndorff, CEO of microbiome Therapeutics. “”Growing evidence supports a role for the gut microbiome in a range of disorders, and interest in the therapeutic potential of microbiome modulators is soaring. These additional funds will enable us to complete our ongoing studies and prepare for our next set of clinical trials. We expect to report results from the current studies soon, prior to the launch of a significant Series B financing during 2014.”
NM504 is being studied in two placebo-controlled, double-blinded, proof of concept trials. The first is assessing its ability to alter the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome to enhance insulin sensitivity and fasting blood glucose levels in prediabetic individuals. The second is testing the utility of NM504 in combination with metformin in diabetes patients with adverse GI effects. NM504 has previously demonstrated the potential to mitigate these adverse effects.
MBT is developing microbiome modulators that alter bacterial populations and their environment in the GI tract to address serious health conditions. The company’s microbiome modulators are designed to act on multiple factors in the GI environment, augmenting the growth of targeted desirable bacterial strains and discouraging the growth of others. NM504 is formulated to promote microbiome shifts that positively affect metabolism and weight.
~ The Surprising Healing Qualities … of Dirt. All while richish mothers and fathers are literally killing their children socially and physically by their ignorant helicoptering over every single aspect of their children’s lives—from who they play with and what goes on, to their anti-bacterial jihad. …My judgment? “Regurgitators” who don’t know anything, trust everything with letters after name and growing bank account.
Impressed by the growing evidence that our health depends on healthy soil, my “dirty thoughts” have turned to action. I now tell my patients that food grown in well-treated soil might offer distinct advantages when it comes to scoring the best nutrients and building a healthy immune system.
~ Folks, now seriously. How many of you have benefited from my and Tim’s hundreds of hours of collaboration and the subsequent 50 posts and thousands of comments on resistant starch? In the spirit and season of giving, can’t you spare something like 10-25 bucks for a pretty cool experiment? It’s a family of 4 who wants to get their gut biome tested before, and then after administration of resistant starch: to actually see the effect on the bacterial mix and quantities of good to bad, if there truly is one. Aren’t you curious to the tune of $25?
I know you get hit up all the time and I agree, it gets cumbersome and annoying. But so many have commented about great benefits they have received and others, about how potentially game-changing this is.
Resistant Starch & Gut Biome: A Family Science Project
Please give me a Christmas gift that I have never asked for in 10 years of blogging and almost 3,800 posts…and give it to them. Please don’t count on others.
Those others are indeed: you.
~ Joyeux Noel et une Bonne Année à vous et les vôtres.
A fond memory I’ll never forget is seeing this at original airing sometime in the mid 70s. David Bowie and Bing Crosby. A treasure.
I’ll be in touch.
On the RS Family experiment, I’m on the hook for the balance. A promise I made to Allan. Sure would be nice not to have to come up with $650.
6 days left!
Thank you Richard, I really appreciate your help and endorsement for our project. I wish you and Beatrice a very Merry Christmas.
And Merry Christmas to you and yours too Tim. You’re offer is much too generous! I wouldn’t feel right accepting it — so please, people, save both me and Tim some face here, and show what a big softie Richard is underneath that crusty f-bomb dropping shell. 😉
Still on the RS but with low carb now as my hypoglycemia never got better.I drink 6tbsps daily in a yogurt based drink that I let sit for 1/2 hour.Farting was crazy for awhile while I was eating high carb and RS but is very little now with LC and RS.
But recently,maybe 6 months now,I have been having some crazy bad breath.I deliver to customers and they will constantly steer away from my mouth.Its really a sad situation to live in and I understand they are not being rude but its their own bodies way to avoid that person.Its a natural reaction to ass breath and I do the same thing when I run across another halitosis sufferer and mean no harm.
Mouthwashes helped out but was short lived and so I stopped them thinking it was making it worse by killing off the good bacteria.But the halitosis got so bad lately that I went and purchased some hydrogen peroxide which is deadly to most things that invade the human body.When that stuff hit my mouth the explosion of foam was scary to say the least.It would instantly turn to foam and start coming out of my mouth as I gargled with it which made gargling and exercise in itself.But I persevered and suddenly I got the worst tooth ache ever that was shooting down my jaw and up in my skull.Read up online that its a tooth abscess which is an infection in the tooth or under the gums.Never had a cavity but do have bleeding gums so figured its gum disease.
So today I used a whole pint of listerine,10 H2O2 gargles,5 saltwater gargles,two brushings with baking soda and chewed some garlic around the infected tooth.From not being even able to work and wincing in pain in public,the pain is completely gone right now and I can finally fall asleep…JEEEZ WTF!!
Anyway,point of my post is that I saw that Richard uses oil pulling and now many here are gonna start gargling with RS.Any advice to oil pulling and RS gargling or is it as easy as it sounds?I never want to have a bacterial infection in my mouth ever again.Now to get those cute ladies that have been flirting with me and then having their bodies do a violent rejection when I got close to trust that they can come closer.;) LOL ;(
@ Wolfstriked
You might want to try some Streptoccocus salivarius K12 & M18. They have the ability to kill off hostile bacteria in your mouth, reported by some on Amazon even to reverse plaque build-up, although I haven’t seen that effect. They come in lozenge form and have even been called oral probiotics.
I do PS gargle then brush teeth w/o toothpaste BUT gargle with himalayan salt sole. http://www.himalayancrystalsalt.com/sole-recipe.html
@Wolfstriked – I have been oil pulling daily for 2-3 years. 20 minutes, then spit it out, brush w/water, and floss afterwards. I use 100% sesame oil, not a blend, and think that sesame oil is the best oil to use. It was the oil used traditionally 1000’s of years ago.
Don’t overthink it, just do it–like potato starch.
@Tater, maybe I missed the whole oil pulling thread. What’s the logic behind it in a nutshell? The oil somehow kills or absorbs the bad bacteria but not the good?
Wolfstriked, go to the dentist. Sounds like the smell is from a rotten tooth (teeth?) and the nerve just died. It ain’t going to get better and your face might swell up. Better a dental emergency than a medical emergency.
Guys lets get this experiment going – Anyone who contributes, please leave a Christmas greeting here – I just did.
Merry Christmas..!
Let us build some momentum.
done. not much BUT least I can do for having a reason to bring my beloved garlic fried rice back to my diet 🙂
Merry X’Mas
Merry Christmas to all, and thanks to Richard, Tim, and Grace too for the RS work. Thank you for the sound sleep I am now getting after years of crummy sleep, and now I’m off to go give the Allan Folz family $25 for their cool experiment.
Just thought I’d add to the noise here- I’ve had a set of health problems that differs from most people using RS on this site, namely persistent and intense anxiety, as well as adrenal and sleep problems due to going VLC for a few months. I’ve also had fibromyalgia for the past year now, and I could not get it to go away for the longest time. After reading Richard’s and Tim’s posts here, I added RS to my diet (which already included fermented foods, good meats, and lots of vegetables), and my symptoms have started to improve for the first time since I started feeling the pain. They have not gone away completely yet, but my mood and the pain have gotten so much better that for the first time in a year, I completely forgot I had fibromyalgia yesterday for almost the entire day. I cannot thank you guys enough for putting in the tremendous amount of work that you do to spread the word about resistant starch. I wish you guys got royalties from all my bobs red mill purchases- I feel you definitely deserve it. I’ve now gotten my girlfriend, dad, and grandma to try it and my girlfriend has already started to lose weight (hooray)! En sum, just wanted to express my enthusiasm and let you guys know that those impressive American Gut project results that Tim showed us can have farther reaching benefits than just helping blood sugar regulation, mood, and sleep (though that’s already impressive enough) !
A note to anyone who may be reading this in hopes of helping their fibromyalgia- it took me a solid month of having dr bg.’s bionic RS and straight potato starch (total 8 TSP potato starch a day) to finally feel the pain subside, and I would guess it could take some people many months to get the same relief I got, depending on the state of their gut. So don’t give up if this doesn’t work within a month, and make sure to include the things that I consumed before I added the potato starch- dulse (for iodine), vitamin d and K supplements, as well as N-acetylcysteine , sauerkraut, kimchi, gochujang, variety of greens and other veggies, sweet potatoes and potatoes, magnesium and zinc supplements, prescription assist, and fish oil pills.
N-acetylcysteine may not be necessary, I thought I would include it because of this single study
This shows its capability to break up mature biofilms of one pathogen, and I thought it may be able to do that to other pathogens as well, and you may possibly reach minimum effective concentration range found in the study inside the gut. Even if it doesn’t accomplish this it still ups glutathione, so i think it’s worth it either way.
Done. What is that saying in the land full of pussies, supposedly the brave and the free? Third time ‘s a charm. Peace.
Thanks peeps,I guess my fear of dentists is about to be challenged.I have 4 wisdom teeth that I have wanted to remove for yrs but kept putting it off.The one that is infected became so bad recently that I couldn’t eat food on that side of my mouth.Just dumb behavior on my part as I kept thinking its easily treatable by brushing and flossing daily.The pain when I woke up this morning was unbearable but thankfully it subsides with alot of warm salty gargles and painkillers.
Tatertot,I will try the sesame oil next.I had this “cheap” dollar store oil in my cupboard(dont ask LOL)that was so thick you couldn’t really squish it thru the teeth.
Done, 50 as a heartfelt thank you to Richard and Tatertot for the best hack EVER.
Merry Humbug, y’all!
“Microbiome modulators” eh? I thought I was ingesting potato starch! Didn’t I say in several postings that Big Pharma is going to figure out how to make dollars from dimes worth of starch?
@tatertot: I tried that oil pulling – about three times, and nowhere near 20 minutes. Got, how boring, nasty tasting. I used coconut oil because the lauric acid is such a bacteria killer.
I concluded some years ago that needing constant dental attention is not natural. A furthering of my observation that animals eating what they are supposed to eat rarely get ill from diet. My last dental visit was four years ago. I don’t have halitosis (really!), plaque, or cavities. My diet is pretty much Perfect Health. I eat a bit of candy ever rare while without guilt. I do Vitamin D3, calcium, and a heavy Vitamin K complex.
And, of course, plenty of PS! Would make a great stocking stuffer, ha ha.
Should have been “Every rare while.”
Another thought on Big Pharma and this project. There will be millions of Americans who will pay good money for a “modern” pill, both for the convenience and the ignorance of cheap, not-modern PS.
Was kind of shocked looking on folz’s site at the low level of contributions.
Just did my part.
So many comments and contributors, but most importantly recipients of some astonishing benefits….lets pay it forward….together….. we should easily be able to get the family to the goal and beyond. No need to saddle Tim with additional generosity. 🙂
Marc
pzo, I doubt that the company is working on packaging their product in a pill form. A person requires considerable grams of RS for it to have the desired result. It’s probably like the Hi Maize concoction beyond sold.
People want their RS gussied up, chocolate, strawberry, blah blah. Nothing as simple as plain RPS.
Indigogo is up to $545. Come on people. Only $305 to go. Let’s make it. 10 bucks 25 bucks 50 bucks.,….. a little goes a long way. And really, considering that Tatertot has volunteered (up above to fork over the difference) , let’s make everyone’s Christmas the bestest and share out the funding for this poop challenge.
I love Ziggy Stardust…saw him and the Spiders in 72/73 at Long Beach Arena…the next night went to see Bette Midler at the Dorothy Chandler and they were sitting a few rows in front of us…what a trip…thanks for posting the vid…
Merry Christmas to All
Merry Christmas, everybody.
Jackie was reading Facebook last night and said, “What’s this about you giving $600 for some gut thing?”
So, now my plea is real—-HEEEEEELLLLLPPPP!
And HUGE THANKS to all who gave. I think this project is going to huge. Just look at my results, they are showing up everywhere, imagine if we get similar results and a before and after look. This is how science needs to be done. By us.
One of Chris Kresser’s assistants got her results from the American Gut Project, and as a result, she’s going to be doing her own 30 day resistant starch experiment. http://www.ancestralizeme.com/2013/12/20/my-american-gut-results/
OKAY PEEPS, $270 to go!!!!
After having to spend almost $400 bucks on prescription meds so I can stay alive and continue bothering you people, having no electricity for 4 days and all that crap entails including lost income at work (haven’t had the car fixed yet that’s another $700) even with my Christmas budget blown to non existence, I managed to donate $50. So come on folks, it’s not a BIGDEAL to help out.
Let’s get this show on the road!!!!! We all of us want a Super Crappy New Year! Make it happen.
@Ajmhardy, congrats on your results. Is that 8 tablespoons or teaspoons? I suspect Fibromyalgia or CFS is autoimmune, so it might respond to RS supplementation (Fibromyalgia also responds to LDN). You achieved relief just using RS, no probiotics? And what do you mean when you say you’re taking “Dr. BG’s bionic RS and straight potato starch”? Aren’t they both BRM potato starches?
Now under $200 to achieve full project funding. Thanks for so many of you stepping up, now over 30 funders.
YeeeHaw! Only $100 to go!!! We can do it people!
OMG for all the people out there who have been helped by the indomitable Richard Nikoley, steadfast uber-researcher Tatertot Tim and glorious Dr. Grace…………………. What’s a measly $10? $25?
Let’s go!!!!!
70 buckeroos to go~! Let’s make it a Christmas miracle: Tim’s wife will hug him big time under that Christmas tree.
Kisses to all the heros and heroines out there who will make this happen!
I have heard about Free the Animal, but not been a regular visitor until now. I have been fascinated reading about and now trying RS. I backed ubiome a while back. I have the kit sitting here waiting. I’ll collect my sample and send it off in a couple of weeks when I have been on RS for a while longer. I’m doing 4 TBSP at night, mixed in with yogurt and some nutracleanse. Anyway for a measly $27.36CDN, I’m curious about this family (I’ll put the postcard up at work) and having now started reading FTA want to support Richard and save Tim some $, although it looks like the project will fund fairly soon with only $30 to go.
$30 to go… Drumroll …
No Shit, David! This is so awesome………………………… Whose gonna top this? 1 little poopy contribution, that’s all it takes!
Make it a merrymerrycrappyChristmas!!!
Congratulations to all of us who are making this happen! Wonderful wonderful crazy wonderful. Major ‘Snoopy Happy Dance’!!! Happy happy Christmas to all!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!
Now I can go take a nap. 😉
alpdiver: whoever you are:::::::: smoooooooch!
I screwed up…I should have been the last to donate, not the first–then the smooches would have been mine, all mine! Blast you, apldiver!
Good job, everyone — you made my day.
tatertot: LOL! Smooochies to you anyway.
Isn’t it so wonderful that we all got (wanted to write came but it’s loaded) together and we did it! I’m so proud of everyone who contributed to this wonderful experiment. It was even a wonderful experiment to find out how many people got on board the poop train. Fa la la la! Lovely. (It’s so funny that when the final $30 bucks came in the CBC was playing the music from the Sound of Music : Climb every mountain, ford every stream….. I was having one of those airborne moments).
Cheers everybody and may all your wishes come true. Here’s hoping that Mrs. Tatertot is in a kissee kissee mood. 🙂 You deserve every one of them.
Merry Christmas and kudos and kisses to everyone who contributed to this project. 🙂
FWITW, I did a bit on the $$$ drive.
Mostly writing to say that I am finding that beans ain’t all alike insofar as prep and cooking, apparently.
I last did a 2 pound bag of pintos, soaked for 36 or so hours, cooked them to soft in some 35-45 minutes.
This time, black beans. Same soak, plus or minus. Now one hour, still not ready. Timer set for another 30 minutes.
Do you know black beans? Popular in Caribbean, Central and South American cultures. My mother was born and raised in Brazil and black beans and rice was a popular dish in the Verizzo household. We even had – gasp! – Tabasco sauce when no white person knew the chile.
After my ex and myself moved to Colorado in 1972, our parents would send us care packages of Vigo yellow rice and black beans.
Wonderful, wonderful foods.
again, “old world” traditional diets what really works. we have to get back to our roots to regain our health. certainly the government, pharma and food industry would not because all they want is the money. they CAN NOT monetize “old world” traditional diets.
Found an interesting source for Organic Potato Starch, but the minimum amounts are huge:
http://www.ciranda.com/ingredients/potato-starch
(55.11 pounds bags. 40 bags per pallet. Minimum order quantity is 10 bags.)
Moving forward, I’d really like to have more choices as far as variety and quality of product, but so far 2T RS (Bob’s Unmodified PS) on empty stomach first thing in the morning is an IBS cure for me. Maybe Bob’s will step up with some more choices.
The first supplement company to come out with a Potato Starch + Just Bifidus and nothing else supplement might get some business from me also! RIght now buying just bifidus powder is crazy expensive from sites like custom probiotics. Maybe it’s not necessary.
Hey Caravan,
Sorry, that should have been spelled tbsps (tablespoons), not tsp. Yea, after hearing about some peoples’ suspicions that fibromyalgia is autoimmune in nature, and that autoimmune diseases are possibly caused by a leaky gut, I figured potato starch couldn’t hurt based off of what Richard and Tim were saying about it. I used Prescript Assist which contains probiotics in the form of soil-based organisms, and I guess you could count fermented foods as a probiotic as well. Bionic RS is a concoction made up by Dr. BG (and tatertot as well?) that contains psyllium husk, high orac powder, and potato starch. Tim talks about it and how to make it on Dr. BG’s blog, animalpharm. By straigh potato starch I meant I just mixed it in water and drank it. Not sure what you mean by “BRM potato starch” though.
Testing the Asian brand, USA made potato starch:
FBG this AM: 91. Not seeing the low 80’s like 5-6 days ago. But still happy compared to 125 where my RS journey started! Drank my usual pot of coffee, BG went up 10 to 101. Guess there ARE a few carbs in black coffee.
Drank my 4tbl’s of PS. 15 minutes later 98, 30 minutes, 97, 45 minutes, it jumped to 116. At one hour, 102.
Any normal starchy food will start the bump within ten minutes. It peaks at 45-60 and then the slide downward slowly (for me.) The PS doesn’t start the bump UNTIL 45 minutes which is ALSO the peak, and then drops right down again almost to baseline.
Reasonable conclusion: If you have a glucometer, you can affirm if the product in question is PS if it has the very delayed and then disappearing bump.
After the test above, I hadn’t eaten anything for about 17 hours and there on the stove was a huge pot of properly prepared, room temperature black beans screaming for some diced tomatoes and chile’s. One cup, almost 50 grams of carb, although 15 of that is fiber.
Clock still running while eating. Finished with 8 minutes to go on the 15 minute interval. Man, that was good!
At 75 minutes, now 116. I’m running out of blood letting sites! Ninety minutes total, 23 minutes post beans, 131. One and three quarter hours total, 38 minutes post bean: 167. A bit less than I’ve seen before pre-RS. Fifty three minutes post bean, right about the usual highest readings, it’s already dropped slightly to 161. Going to switch to 30 minuted intervals. Eighty three minutes post bean, 150, 30 minutes later 129.
Since by this test and others I’ve done, my BG will drop 20 points in 30 minutes once the decline starts rolling from the peak. To get back to 90 would put me another 60 minutes along, that would put my whole up and then down at three hours. Not great. But, notice that I hit my peak at about 40 minutes, which is 15-20 before when it historically comes about.
So, it appears that the PS has altered my postprandial curve for the better even if things aren’t perfect.
Here’s an interesting one (at least to me). I’ve been trying Uncle Ben’s rice, cooked and cooled. I’ve done it twice now. About an hour after I eat it, I get almost irresistibly sleepy. And the same thing happened to me the day after Thanksgiving. My GF had made a tasty rice stuffing, and a couple of days after Thanksgiving I had some of the leftover stuffing, after it had been sitting in the ‘fridge for those two days. On my way home, it was like a was drugged, I could barely keep my eyes open. And it wasn’t low blood sugar (I checked both times). That time it was with some turkey…these last two days, it was with some sardines and bacon. It feels like I took an extra high dose of melatonin or something. (I’ve been doing the PS thing for 3-4 months now and sleep like a baby most nights.)
Oh, and I dropped $25 into the kitty for the study. I saw this post after they had reached their goal, but it still seemed like a good thing to do.
@Charles – Hypothesis: increased serotonin production by flora leading to increased melatonin?
@David Holmes: Yeah, maybe. I thought about that. It feels like some kind of hormone rush. I just didn’t think it could happen that quickly…
Several times in the past year I’ve posted about the possibility of amylase inhibitors (“starch/carb blockers”) making any starch into a resistant starch. With an inhibitor, the starch just doesn’t get broken down into the glucose molecules that starch is. Then all that starch hits the colon, and in theory, just like RS. Tatertot has made a comment or two, also.
After the experiments today I was coerced into going to the best little Mexican restaurant around. OK, not coerced, wanted to. I swallowed six of the carb blocker tablets instead of the usual two or three before leaving home. My BG was 96. Over an hour, I ate god only knows how many ounces of their “homemade” corn chips, and also about 2/3 cup each rice and beans. FDA data base estimated grams of starch, 151. Lethal for a T2 like me. Two hours later, BG was 107. Compared to the post above, this is astounding.
Now, I know that in theory there is no way those chips, beans, and rice could be hitting my colon while I was eating, but, man! I was silently farting immense volumes, no smell at all. The beans from the morning? Dunno. At home again, it tapered off.
Two hours later, BG was 107. Fair to say that the blocker worked very, very well. I’m not going to do my evening 4 TBL’s of PS.
@pzo: There are a lot of versions, which brand of carb blocker did you use?
@pzo – I’m still on the fence. I believe that AIs work for BG control just by limiting the glucose absorbed, not so much by a microbial action as with RS. When the undigested carbs hit the large intestine, they are surely fermented by gut bugs that ferment such things, but I’m not at all sure this leads to a better gut profile.
Here are a couple papers, the first one looks kind of bad, but it’s rats and fed a crapload of AIs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7782910
As starch digestion in the small intestine was negligible at higher inhibitor concentrations, the cecum was practically blocked by solidified digesta. This effect and the ensuing bacterial fermentation stimulated the growth of this tissue by hyperplasia and hypertrophy. However, as the distension was not always sufficient, the organ was occasionally ruptured and the rats had to be killed. Inhibitor doses in this work were comparable to those in clinical studies, implying that the use of the inhibitor is not without health risks.
The second paper is a review on AIs and lipid inhibitors you may find useful:
To me, it seems that the role of AI’s is for people who eat too many carbs and want to limit the damage/BG spike done by them.
@Charles,
I have the exact same reaction to Basmati rice, but not sushi rice (Japanese short grain rice). Uncle Ben’s is a long grain rice, I believe. It’s not a blood sugar issue (I’ve checked too). I believe it’s an allergic reaction of some kind.
I came across this link that talks about people who get severely tired from long grain rice:
http://failsafediet.wordpress.com/the-rpah-elimination-diet-failsafe/advice-for-super-responders/
I honestly don’t know what to make of that link because I don’t have any (known) issues with the other foods they list (how do I have “severe” intolerance if I can eat potatoes and all other vegetables?), but I find it interesting that sushi (short grain) rice is considered to be safer than long grain rice. Anyway, try eating real sushi rice and let me know if you feel great or not. And if any of that allergy stuff makes sense, let me know because I too would like to know why Basmati rice makes me feel like passing out!
@DuckDodgers,
Interesting. That’s some strange stuff. Thanks!
I’ve been following the RS posts here with great interest and have decided to do my own N=1. I do have a question, and I’m hoping the great minds here can help answer it.
If RS acts like fiber, why not use fiber? What makes RS better than fiber? Doesn’t fiber do the same thing?
Ok, that’s more than one. But they’re related questions. I’m curious and thank you all for indulging my curiosity.
About potato flour/starch distinction – as someone in some previous blogpost comment previously mentioned in Europe manufacturers don’t distinguish between them, but generally what in US is called potato flour (from boilded potatoes) is hardly available. What I found in shops is called potato flour, but when you read the contents label it says it contains 100% potato starch. So the clearest way to know what you get is to read the contents label, not the name itself.
David, I doubt your hypothesis, but it’s still fascinating to me that it’s at least plausible that gut microbiota affect melatonin levels via serotonin production.
str, it’s because resistant starch has many unique properties that fiber lacks. Someone else who knows more can chime in, but I felt like doing some research and taking notes here:
* RS passes throughthe small intestine and goes to the the large intestine. It is not turned into glucose, but fermented into short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), notably butyrate. Butyrate has many downstream beneficial effects, like maintaining a healthy epithelium and changing the solubility of important nutrients, thereby enhancing absorption, e.g. Ca and Mg.
* RS role in preventing colorectal cancer has been established (mechanisms include butyrate production and lowered steroid excretion); fiber doesn’t do anything for colorectal cancer. Although a lot of this is based on epidemiology.
* RS has a granular structure which is why it’s “resistant” to digestion
* RS is a prebiotic, targetting beneficial organisms like Bifidobacterium. It may also carry probiotics (e.g. in your yogurt) all the way to the large intestine.
* RS is metabolised slowly over at least 5 hours (vs immediately for normal starches). This slowed digestion leads to lower postprandial insulin and blood glucose.
* Hypocholesterolemic effects and increased postprandial lipid oxidation
That covers most of it. If you want to read more check out the numerous reviews on resistant starch (do a search on Google Scholar). It’s fun reading 🙂
@tatertot: You are 100% (as usual?) correct. By inhibiting the pancreatic production of amylase, long chain glucose, a.k.a. starch, won’t get broken down in the small intestine. Just like a good RS. Then it hits the large intestine and one should get the benefits of any RS.
My FBG this AM was 91, same as the day before, but no evening PS dose. I suspect the starchblocker and starches.
But at not time in the last twelve hours have I had another farting attack. Barely anything.
@Charles: In Richard’s search box, enter Natrol. That will take you to previous postings of mine on the topic.
@nick
Do you have a source for the hypocholesterolemic effects? I have similar suspicions based upon connecting dots, but nothing concrete from literature searches I’ve done.
Okay so a couple of data points.
Homemade kefir vs. store bought, both with 2 tablespoons PS. 30-minute BG differential.
Homemade: +2
Store bought: +39
Cooled rice + sardines/avocado/bacon salad-like food item. 1 hour BG differential.
+2
Sushi + 2 glasses of wine in the evening after day of kefir+PS and cooled rice meal.
+3
All of those readings are very unusual. My blood sugar is pretty stable, but this is really extraordinary. (3-4 months on PS. But last 3-4 days on homemade kefir + PS.)
Thumperama, see here http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?hl=en&q=%22resistant+starch%22+cholesterol&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=
So let me ask a question (after a bottle of very good wine). If the RS is fermented into SCFA, isn’t that similar to a ruminant’s energy production? Vegans and Vegetarians always point out that animals live on plants, but my understanding is that they actually live on fatty acids, produced by a process/enzyme we don’t have. Is this not the same process, only limited? If so, we seem to have both systems available: energy production based on fat, protein and carbohydrate, and energy based on SCFA and fermentation. Aamirite?
Charles – You are on the right track, but the science is different than that.
Almost all plant matter you eat, that isn’t fully digested in the sm intestine, is converted into SCFA in the colon. Possibly even also undigested protein and fats. The problem is, we don’t get enough SCFA produced on the standard diet. Even when we do get enough, ie. by eating a shit-load of inulin, fibrous plants, and other OSs, we may get way more SCFA, but it doesn’t necessarily lead to more beneficial bacteria, like bifidobacteria.
This can be easily seen by looking at Leach and Pollan’s AmGut results–both these guys eat 20X the fiber of most Americans, yet their bifidobacteria is next to nothing. I ate little fiber, but 5X the RS as most and my bifidobacteria was 13X the study average–that has to hurt Leach and Pollan!
But, I guess to answer your question–yes, we get a lot of SCFA from fermentation in the gut, but most of it gets used to feed and fuel the colon itself–we probably can’t produce enough to fuel our metabolism like a cow can.
tatertot — First of all, thank you for everything. This is a great and wonderful area of new understanding, and you have been incredibly helpful in going here. It’s changed my life for the better, and other as well. Thanks.
I wasn’t suggesting we could get enough SCFA from fermentation alone. I was just suggesting we have a very nice system (when fully utilized as we are doing with RS) that can get energy production from both areas.: immediate digestion and the fermentation we are now trying to optimize.
Tatertot, wouldn’t your high Bifidobacteria also be due to probiotics as well, specifically, Garden of Life Primal Defense? I assume RS can proliferate Bifidobacteria on its own but any lactic acid probiotics could be a boost for the Bifodobacterium species. Or did you not take probiotics containing Bifodobacterium species at all?
Is prescript-assist really that effective. it’s a little pricey and my budget is somewhat limited. any other least expensive way to get the the same effect as you get from prescript-assist
@Spanish – Back when I sent the sample in, I had never taken a probiotic supplement in my entire life. I was eating no yogurt or kefir, eating some sauerkraut and kimchee–but not much.
In the studies, human and animal, it is clearly shown that RS feedings, in the 20-40g/day range will boost bifido up to about 10-20% of total gut flora without supplementation, and that is exactly what seemed to happen with me.
Over the last 6 months, I’ve been playing around with yogurt, kefir, and some probiotic pills, but mostly for my wife’s sake–trying to get her guts in better shape and off of the PPIs that she’s become dependent on.
@Tatertot, thanks. So you did it without probiotics, really. Would be interested to know what your gut flora looks like after supplementation.
Most probiotics on the market basically supplement Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species. Your really have to go out of your way to find species that are “soil based organisms.”
@sootedninjas, P-A is fairly unique. I checked out their bacterial strains and 27 of 29 are not replicated in other brands. So they’re up to something. I’ve been taking them from about a month and am about to run out. I’m gonna reorder, definitely. Most probiotic bacterial strains overlap. You have to really compare what’s in them. The only ones with unique strains are P-A, Probiotics-3
If you wanna diversify your gut flora, I would take one major Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium probiotics (GoL Primal Defense, BioKult, Swanson, Dr. Stephen Langer, Dr. Mercola, etc.). But then throw in P-A and Probiotics-3. If you do all 3, then you’re really getting all the bacterial strains possible (or sold). I don’t know if they’re helpful for your particular condition, however.
The RS synergy effect is largely for the lactobacillus/bifidobacteirum species, I believe, though I’m not sure about the soil based organisms.
@Spanish – I was just reading about Nightshade Allergies. I can’t figure out why people would have a reaction to raw potato starch. It is caused by proteins in potatoes which are all removed in the starch production, and the symptoms don’t seem to match what you said you saw. Could it be something else?
Nightshade allergies stem from a malfunctioning immune system. Your body sees the proteins in potatoes (or other nightshades) as a harmful substance and attempts to fight them off. Your body immediately produces antibodies to destroy the nightshade proteins and these antibodies cause soft tissues throughout the body to become inflamed and watery.
Nightshade intolerance mainly affects the lungs, skin, and nasal passages and is seen as asthma, runny nose, watery eyes, scratchy/sore throat, sneezing, and possibly a rash. In severe cases, the lungs can swell leading to shortness of breath, chest pain and wheezing.
Digestive symptoms are also common with any nightshade allergies. The intestinal tract can become inflamed from histamine, leading to vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, stomach cramping and abdominal pain.
My thinking too, Tim. I don’t get the nightshade deal here. I have chalked it up to psychosomatic so far.
check.
I found this today. Sent the link to Tatertot………….. apparently this is being used in some hospitals. Holy sh.t
Floracol:
http://www.nutritiongeeks.com/floracol-300/8877.html
Tatertot, I have nightshade allergies to potatoes, tomatoes, bellpeppers and hot peppers. My symptoms are mainly eyes drying out but also runny nose. My nose runs all the time practically. Now, having said that, ever since I started taking GoL digestive enzymes, I’ve been tolerating potato starch. So instead of taking Barry Farm’s plantain flour, I’ve been taking BRM PS. That’s why I’ve been able to notice that PS is much stronger than plantain flour. I think it’s at least 2x stronger.
People with RA definitely react to nightshade veggies. Everytime I told myself I must be imagining things, I go get myself some salsa and sure enough, I react. Not everyone see their joints swell up. There’re other reactions which make clear that your immune system’s reacting. My experiments with potatoes seemed to show that I was reacting to potato skin. So if BRM PS has some skin dissolved in it, I must be reacting.
Having said all that, right now, I’m tolerating PS. I haven’t experimented with other nightshades however. Honestly, I can’t tell whether I’m tolerating PS now because of the digestive enzymes or the 3 mega-probiotic regiment that I’m on. Did an enema with 2 tbsp. PS, Mark’s Primal Flora, X-Assist and DrBG’s Pro3 and felt my colon being restructured. I’ll be overjoyed if my tight junctions have been sealed shut and I can eat nightshades now. But I’m not gonna risk anything by eating salsa. I’ll just stick to PS for now. I stopped taking my digestive enzymes for 2 days and I’m still okay with PS. So perhaps things have changed.
@SpanCar – Thanks. That all makes sense. I guess my concern is people who have never had nightshade allergies, then try PS and notice an achy joint or headache and immediately blame nightshades. That doesn’t seem to be the case with you.
RA definitely seems to be gut related, so hope it all works out for you–thanks for sharing.
Tim
@Tatertot, you might wanna point out to Paul at PHD that he’s linked the wrong BRM PS for supplement recommendation. 2 out of 3 are BRM Unmodified PS but the one in the middle is potato flour. He says you’re recommending it, so you probably wanna correct it.
Apologies if this has been mentioned somewhere, although I couldn’t find it when I searched the site. I’m type 2 but wondering if it’s ok to take PS post workout with protein or whey, or better to give it some space due to blood sugar levels naturally rising after a workout.
Post workout is just fine. It takes 3-4 hours to get where it does it’s magic, anyway.