Overview Of Resistant Starch And Its Application In Food Product Developments
The health benefits of resistant starches have prompted many individuals to include them in their diets. Resistant starch is a nutrient that can help with digestion, illness prevention, and weight loss. Most starches are digested and broken down, while resistant starch does not.
What Is Resistant Starch, and How Does It Work?
Resistant starch is a carbohydrate that digests in the small intestine; instead, it ferments in your large intestine, feeding good bacteria in your gut. This form of starch contains fewer calories than ordinary starch and has several health benefits. Regular starches have four calories per gramme, but resistant starches have just two and a half calories per gramme. As a result, whether you’re trying to lose or maintain weight, it’s a terrific addition to your diet.
Resistant Starches are divided into four categories.
Type 1 Partially milled seeds and grains and other dense starchy meals include type 1 starches. This form of starch gets caught in the cell walls of fibrous cells, and as a result, it is not digested.
Type 2 carbohydrates can be found in raw bananas and potatoes. Because type 2 starches are compact, digestive enzymes have difficulty breaking them down; they are indigestible.
Type 3 starch is the most resistant of the three. Foods that have been baked and cooled, such as bread and cornflakes, include type 3 starches. Some of the starches become resistant starches due to the chilling process.
Type 4 starch is an artificial starch commonly found in bread and cakes.
Benefits of Resistant Starch
Improves the health of the intestines. When starches are digested, they are broken down into glucose, and starches resistant to degradation do not break down. More healthy bacteria are formed as resistant starch ferments in your large intestine, improving overall gut health. Constipation will be lessened, cholesterol will be lower, and gas pains will be less likely due to the rise in healthy bacteria. Maintain the health of your colon. Your large intestine’s beneficial bacteria convert resistant starch into short-chain fatty acids, the most significant of which is butyrate.
Your colon cells prefer butyrate as an energy source. It may be able to:
- Reduce your colon’s pH level.
- Inflammation should be reduced.
- Reduce your risk of getting colorectal cancer.
Encourages high insulin sensitivity levels. Resistant starches can help your body respond better to insulin, and your body will tolerate high. This implies you’ll be less likely to acquire illnesses like type 2 diabetes.
Reduces the risk of some diseases. Resistant starches can improve insulin sensitivity, reducing your risk of developing certain conditions; including Alzheimer’s and moderate cognitive impairment (MCI). It promotes weight loss. Because resistant starches are more difficult to digest, your body will use more energy to digest them, so you won’t become hungry soon and eat less.
- Increasing the Amount of Resistant Starch in Your Diet
- Resistant starch is found in abundance in the following foods:
- Cooked rice or potatoes that have been cooled
- Barley and oats are examples of whole grains.
- Plantains
- Bananas in their natural state (not yellow or ripe bananas, which have regular starch)
Here are some suggestions for incorporating resistant starches into the diet:
Lentils can be added to a soup or salad. Make overnight oats with uncooked oats by soaking them in milk or yogurt. Cooked oatmeal has more resistant starch than overnight oats. Before dining, cook potatoes, pasta, beans, and rice and let them chill in the refrigerator. The amounts of resistant starch in these foods will not be affected by reheating them after cooling. Wheat flour can be substituted with green banana flour, cassava flour, plantain flour, or potato starch. They have a lot of resistant starch in them, but only when eaten raw, like sprinkling on meals or adding to water or smoothies.
Side Effects
Resistant starch similarly works in the body as fibre, and it’s found in a variety of foods. As a result, eating resistant starch carries a low chance of negative side effects. Higher amounts of resistant starch, on the other hand, may bring moderate adverse effects, including gas and bloating. However, resistant starch digestion may create less gas than the digestion of other fibres. Some people may be allergic to or have adverse responses to meals high in resistant starch.
Resistant Starch-Rich Foods
Resistant starch is present in a variety of foods, comprising
- Toasted Italian bread
- bread made of pumpernickel
- flakes of corn
- cereals made of puffed wheat
- oats
- potato chips with muesli
- bananas in their natural state
- beans (white)
- lentils
- Cooking and then chilling some starchy foods, such as white potatoes and rice, can also increase the amount of resistant starch in them.
Challenges In Food Product Development
Americans’ current consumption of resistant starch is lower than suggested for health benefits, highlighting the need to raise the amount of resistant starch in their diets. Resistant starch content is low in foods including potatoes, rice, pasta, morning cereals, and bread (2.5 per cent dry matter basis). Resistant starch (5.0–15 per cent, dry matter basis) is abundant in cooked legumes, peas, and cooked and cooled starchy meals. The majority of items in a normal Western diet are high in glycemic index and readily digested carbohydrates.
| Grain and cereal products | Resistant starch (g/100 g) | Glycemic index |
| Buckwheat | 1.8 | 51 |
| Bread (white) | 1.2 | 69 |
| Bread (wholemeal) | 1.0 | 72 |
| Millet | 1.7 | 71 |
| Rice (brown) | 1.7 | 66 |
| Rice (white) | 1.2 | 72 |
| Spaghetti (whole meal) | 1.4 | 42 |
| Spaghetti (white) | 1.1 | 50 |
| All-Bran (Kellogg’s) | 0.7 | 51 |
| Cornflakes | 3.2 | 80 |
| Muesli | 3.3 | 66 |
| Porridge oats | 0.2 | 49 |
| Shredded wheat | 1.2 | 67 |
| Wheatabix | 0.1 | 75 |
| Broad beans | 1.2 | 79 |
| Potatoes (white) | 1.3 | 80 |
| Potatoes (sweet) | 0.7 | 48 |
| Sweetcorn | 0.3 | 59 |
| Yam | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Beans (baked) | 1.2 | 40 |
| Beans (kidney) | 2.0 | 29 |
| Peas (chick) | 2.6 | 36 |
| Lentils | 3.4 | 29 |
Conclusion
Resistant starch is a starch molecule with the unusual property of resisting enzymatic digestion and arriving in the colon intact or barely altered. Therefore, it is distinguished as a dietary fibre. Nowadays, RS is becoming more popular due to its positive effects on human health, such as prebiotic effects, laxative effects, hypocholesterolemic and hypoglycemic effects, and the reduction of ulcerative colitis and colon cancer risks, as well as its applications in improving the functional properties of foods. The Guires Food Research Lab has widened its research on resistant starch and related products, focusing on new food formulations.
