Hi there, I’m new to this site but have been on the fast 800 diet for a couple of weeks. I’m losing weight and am very happy. I have been taking potato starch morning and night and have found this keeps me from overeating. Is anyone else taking potato starch on a regular basis. Cheers

Hi Emerald! I’ve been taking 1/2 to 1 tsp of potato starch in the evenings and have increased my homemade kefir intake to now about a cup per day. At first I had bad abdominal cramps. I stopped the potato starch and when I resumed I gradually increased, and I was fine.
Tonight I increased it to 1 tablespoon. I also took a simethicone (anti-gas) pill in case there is bloating. I’d like to take another tablespoon in the morning.
I need to lose some weight! I’m having trouble stic

I take a 1tbsp of potato starch on my breakfast which is usually a mix of Greek yogurt with various fruits, seeds and nuts. I also include a tsp of potatoe starch in my sandwich at lunchtime and another with some yogurt before bed. It doesn’t seem to cause me any gastric problems but I have no idea if it is doing me any good.

One thing I don’t quite understand about resistant starch is this idea that cooking and then cooling starchy foods like potatoes, rice and pasta increases there resistant starch content. Reheating then again increases it even further. Pasta is made of flour so if it works for pasta, why not all products primarily made of flour. Toast and pitta breads etc, should be really good for you as far as resistant starch is concerned as they has been cooked into bread, cooled and then toasted. I would like to know the official take on this.

In answer to your question about resistant starch in cooked and cooled foods. Starch is just chains of glucose that is packed in tight little granules by plants. When starch is cooked, the granule absorbs water and swells to the point where the granule bursts, releasing all the glucose chains. Some of those chains form bonds as the glucose chains align and stick together as the food cools. If the food is heated again, some of these retrograded or aligned glucose chains break apart again, but as it cools again, more RS is formed. In this way, the resistant starch content ratchets up as it is heated and cooled. If foods are mixed with other proteins and fats, the alignment of the glucose chains doesn’t happen because the fats and proteins get in the way so the amount of retrograded (Type RS3) resistant starch is a lot less. Bread crusts actually are one of the good sources of resistant starch. A 2008 review of resistant starch consumption in the US showed that breads contributed more resistant starch than any other food. The amount of resistant starch in bread is low (as low as 0.4 g/100g of croissant up to 2.3 grams of RS/100 grams of hard breadsticks), but Americans eat a lot of bread products. You can find this paper at http://www.valemaisalimentos.com.br/material/2.pdf. The problem with bread as a source of resistant starch is that it comes with too much high glycemic carbs and doesn’t deliver enough resistant starch. To get all of the RS benefits, science suggests that you need 20-30 grams of resistant starch/day and there is no way to get there with RS3 and breads.

Thank you. That now makes sense. So it’s only cold pasta, rice or potatoes that contain resistant starch. Cooling and reheating is no better than cooking in the first place. Is that right?

One study found that hot baked potatoes contained 3.5-3.8 grams of resistant starch/100 grams of potato. Chilled baked potatoes contained 4.7-5.4 grams of RS/100 grams of potato and reheated contained 3.8-4.3 grams of RS/100 grams of potato. (Raatz et al. “Resistant starch analysis of commonly consumed potatoes: Content varies by cooking method and service temperature but not by variety” Food Chemistry 208 (2016): 297-300, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814616305052)

Groups who promote potatoes like to talk in percentages because cold baked potatoes contain at least 30% more resistant starch than hot baked potatoes, but as you can see, the differences are really meaningless. The meager 1.2 grams of additional resistant starch in a cold baked potato is not enough to make a meaningful difference. I believe supplements are much more effective ways of getting resistant starch, with a tablespoon of a high quality green banana flour or raw potato starch delivering about 5 or 5.5 grams of RS without all the extra high glycemic carbs in a cooled baked potato.

Resistant starch offers so many benefits that are needed by so many people. You just need to know the best sources and choose the ones that work in your diet and for your preferences.

Thanks for the info, very helpful. I already add potato starch to my breakfast, yogurts and sandwiches but wanted to understand the science behind the claims for RS in cooked and cooled foods.

Great! If I can help answer anything else, just ask. I’ve been working with resistant starch for 17 years and LOVE this stuff.

how resistant is the starch in polenta? again is it better if it is cooked, cooled and then reheated?

One study reported that cooked and cooled corn polenta had 0.8 grams of resistant starch per 100 grams of polenta, which isn’t a lot. Reheating would increase it, but the quantity would still be low.

thank you Rhonda W

Thanks from me too. Your answers have been great. Çheers

Happy to help. I LOVE this topic and want everybody to understand its importance. Resistant starch does not change one thing in metabolism – it changes everything! There is nothing else that I have seen with the quantity and quality of scientific studies showing improved metabolism and gut health. I urge you to keep learning about it and using it in whatever form you prefer.

Im surprised nobidy mentioned resistant starch in beans.my understanding is that they are high in resistant starch even if they are warm. Plus if you use the black and red variety,you are also adding polephynols.