Food That Improves the Gut Biome

[Ttogull]

Host's note: this topic was split from the "Resistant starch" -- cold (and reheated) pasta moderates glucose spike topic.

 

I have been very interested in resistant starches for about a year now for a different reason. I cannot recall pizza being brought up in this context. The cooling and reheating is not really "brand new". It has been discussed quite frequently by people with diabetes issues, and success has been reported in several anecdotal (n=1, as opposed to formal studies) by people who use blood glucose meters. A prominent blog is

http://freetheanimal.com

In particular, check out

http://freetheanimal.com/2013/12/resistant-primer-newbies.html

I must warn however that the blogger delves into political issues and language that some may find unpalatable, but if you can look past that the wealth of information is fantastic. I would feel better recommending the site if he did not, but free speech and all that.

Beans are another food with similar properties.

My interest is with the gut microbiome. The carbs that get coverted into resistant starches are not digested by the human but are fantastic food for our gut bacteria. These bacteria convert the resistant starches into primarily butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid that is wonderful for both intestinal and overall health. Butyrate has connections to reduced insulin sensitivity. It is beyond the scope of this post, but I and close relatives have had remarkable changes to our health following suggestions like those in the BBC article/show and the aforementioned blog. I personally lost hypoglycemia that affected me every day for several decades. It's been gone about a year. I do not restrict my carbs, but I use this and other ideas of a similar nature to feed the gut bacteria.

There is a recipe for mashed potatoes that give a significantly muted glucose reaction in the blog. The recipe use se cooling and reheating plus the addition of raw potato starch, a source of copious resistant starch.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Smithy (log)