Resistant starch and obesity
What is resistant starch
The so-called resistant starch refers to a starch substance widely found in carbohydrates. The World Food and Agriculture Organization defines it as starch and its degradation products that are not absorbed in the small intestine of healthy people. It turns out that there are two types of starch in food, one is easy to digest by the human body, and the other is not easy to digest by the human body. This kind of starch that is not easy to digest by the human gastrointestinal tract is called resistant starch.
Some people may ask this question: Since it is not digested, of course, the human body cannot absorb it, what beneficial effect can it play? In fact, this is the uniqueness of resistant starch. Although it is similar to dietary fiber, it has a broader health significance than dietary fiber. It has been recognized by many scholars as "one of the most important results in the research on the relationship between carbohydrates and health in recent years." Correspondingly, at present, resistant starch has become a hot spot in food and nutrition research in European and American countries. The content of resistant starch in Western residents 'recipes has increased to more than 10%.
Effects of resistant starch on health
In terms of its properties, resistant starches, like dietary fiber, are not easily digested and absorbed by the intestine like carbohydrates and cannot be broken down into glucose. Instead, they are fermented by physiological bacteria in the large intestine, producing short-chain fatty acids and gases, stimulating beneficial bacterial growth. Its impact on human health is--
Weight loss resistant starch itself contains extremely low calories. More importantly, it is not digested or absorbed. It will not add calories to the human body, but it can fill the stomach. Moreover, it has a long-lasting filling effect, and can receive the effect of dieting and slimming. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for fat men and fat women.
Starch that regulates blood sugar resistance cannot be broken down into glucose in the small intestine, so it will not increase the blood sugar concentration in the body and has little impact on insulin secretion. It is suitable for patients with unstable blood sugar or hyperglycemia.
Foreign researchers on preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases tried to feed mice with a feed containing 40% resistant starch. After a few weeks, the elevated cholesterol and triglycerides in these experimental mice all dropped to normal levels. This shows that resistant starch has the effect of adjusting blood lipids and preventing arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Research data on cancer prevention show that toxins such as phenols and amines produced during the metabolism of proteins in food accumulate in the intestine, which may be an important cause of colon cancer. In terms of colon cancer incidence, areas with high starch consumption are significantly lower than areas with low starch consumption, a fact that resistant starch has contributed. The secret is that resistant starch can be 100% fermented and reabsorbed by bacteria in the colon without increasing the amount of feces. After fermentation, its metabolites maintain the acidic environment of the intestine on the one hand, and promote the decomposition and excretion of toxins on the other hand, so they can resist cancer outside the intestine to a certain extent.
Resistant starch ranking
At present, based on the source of starch and the results of human trials, nutritionists divide resistant starches into four categories: