The Resistant Starch Challenge: Is It The Key We've Been Looking For?

[Ripley]

The organisms, whose expansion is enormously and very specifically stimulated by the amylopectin (Clostridial XIVA/Bifidobacteria) don't just participate in the chemical degradation of these alkaloids though, they very prominently maintain the intestinal integrity to keep these compounds, which I believe are not so readily absorbed in the GIT, from passing the epithelial barrier. Intestinal permeability increases toxicity in a variety of ways.

I agree. On the other hand, I've been doing some reading on persorption recently — which is the selective absorption of particles into the bloodstream by the body. So, even with a very strong gut barrier, the body still seems to want a sample of particles like pollens, charcoals, clays, starches to enter the bloodstream (as shown by Volkheimer's studies). Pollen grains in unfiltered honey range from 2.5µm to 1000µm. Carrot starches range from 4-26µm. Activated Charcoal has particle sizes from 1-150µm. And medicinal clays, zeolite included, tend to be defined as particles less than 2µm. Each of those particles fall within the range of sizes that are persorbed by the human body. Even Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) get per persorbed into the infant bloodstream.

In fact, people who market zeolite brag that it can enter the bloodstream. (Although, they claim it needs to be <0.3µm, which seems to be incorrect according Volkheimer and other studies). In other words, if you consume any of these particles, the body seems to choose to let some of the particles past the GIT barrier.

This has often been hypothesized to be some kind of defect, but it may also be that this persorption allows, among other things, dirt and clays to go after toxins that make their way into the bloodstream.

In other words, it may be that one of the ways activated charcoal and medicinal clays (particularly zeolite) work so well is that they appear to have the ability enter the bloodstream and adsorb toxins. And the body has natural filters along the way to remove them (liver, lymph, kidneys). Therefore, eating dirt with a raw potato may allow the dirt to chase down and neutralize any glycoalkoloids that enter the bloodstream.

Perhaps most interestingly, humans and animals have been observed to crave geophagy (eating dirt) during times of GI distress. This implies that it might even be done during high levels of intestinal permeability.

I've also heard that persorbing a sampling of pollens into the bloodstream may also be a way for the body to expose itself to small doses, for immune purposes.

 

[Violeta]

If someone is having bad side effects from the resistant starch, you might have more success in looking into Lyme or some associated infection.

 

[adreno]

Just got some arabinogalactan and took a 1/4 ts. This is strong stuff! It's 2 hours later and I have a mild flu-like feeling, some lymph pain, especially in the tonsils. Slight headache and pain/discomfort in the stomach and urinary tract, feel slightly warm and fatigued. Not too bad, but I wouldn't want to feel like this all the time. I've learned my lesson from the PS and I'm going to wait until the symptoms are gone before I take another dose.

 

[Ripley]

If someone is having bad side effects from the resistant starch, you might have more success in looking into Lyme or some associated infection.

It could be anything. I've heard of people having a parasite and having bad reactions to RS and other prebiotics. Their RS "allergy" resolved soon after their parasite was eliminated. Another person (mentioned a few pages back) had just a severely dysbiotic gut and needed to focus on eating real foods and probiotics. This is why RS "fails" can be helpful. They can tip us off at underlying problems.

Test. Don't guess.

A lot of gut issues can usually be determined by a Metametrix/GDX GI Fx Stool test, as Dr. Grace/BG recommends. She often recommends it in conjunction with a comprehensive urine organic acids (ONE=optimal nutrition eval) and blood test. I'm sure you already know this, but worth mentioning in case someone else reads this who doesn't.

 

[Aileen]

Just got some arabinogalactan and took a 1/4 ts. This is strong stuff! It's 2 hours later and I have a mild flu-like feeling, some lymph pain, especially in the tonsils. Slight headache and pain/discomfort in the stomach and urinary tract, feel slightly warm and fatigued. Not too bad, but I wouldn't want to feel like this all the time. I've learned my lesson from the PS and I'm going to wait until the symptoms are gone before I take another dose.

@adreno where did you get your arabinogalactan and which brand is it? I have found some on the Swanson website but there a few choices and I'm not sure which would be best.

I am leaning toward the "FibreAid" powder (Swanson's own brand) as it doesn't seem to contain any added ingredients. They have it in tablets too, but I might not tolerate that high a dose. I've never tried anything from this company so I don't know about the quality or just what to expect.

 

[jstefl]

I have tried the arabinogalactin several times now, and I find it intolerable. It gives me a really fierce headache that lasts two days. I bought three of the 250 mg bottles, not realizing how big they were.

Live and learn!

John

 

[JPV]

Inulin plus resistant starch could be super-prebiotic
By Stephen Daniells, 29-Jun-2010

Combining fructooligosaccharides with resistant starch could produce gut health benefits beyond the mere sum of the parts, suggests a new study from Spain.

Scientists from the University of Granada report that findings from their rat study indicated that the combination of the ingredients not only boosted levels of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria in the animals’ intestine, but also improved intestinal function.

The combination of fructooligosaccharides (Beneo-95, Beneo-Orafti) and resistant starch (Fibersol-2, ADM) resulted in a synergistic effect in the gut of rats with colitis, according to findings published in Clinical Nutrition.

“Functional foods based on the combination of two different dietary fibers, with different rate of fermentability along the large intestine, may result in a synergistic effect, and thus, in a more evident prebiotic effect that may confer a greater health benefit to the host,” wrote the researchers, led by Julio Gálvez.

“The beneficial effects observed with this combination were confirmed in the model of rat colitis, since it was able to exert intestinal anti-inflammatory effect, associated with an increase of protective bacteria and up-regulation of epithelial defense mechanisms,” stated the researchers.

 

[yukito]

The intestinal flora of a hunter-gatherer people revolutionizing our knowledge of probiotics.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140415/ncomms4654/full/ncomms4654.html

 

[adreno]

@adreno where did you get your arabinogalactan and which brand is it? I have found some on the Swanson website but there a few choices and I'm not sure which would be best.

I am leaning toward the "FibreAid" powder (Swanson's own brand) as it doesn't seem to contain any added ingredients. They have it in tablets too, but I might not tolerate that high a dose. I've never tried anything from this company so I don't know about the quality or just what to expect.

This one, from Amazon:

http://www.foodscienceofvermont.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=300420100

 

[Violeta]

Why?

Because it causes chronic fatigue and chronic gut and neurological symptoms. Chronic symptoms. It's a very difficult bacteria for the immune system to clear out.

 

[Christopher]

I have recently been using Modified Citrus Pectin and have noticed increased immune activation hours after a dose. Did not know it could possibly be prebiotic.

 

[JPV]

Here's a paper, from 2003, that might be of value to those that understand this sort of technical stuff....

Resistant starch as a prebiotic and synbiotic: state of the art

 

[Asklipia]

So why would I have had the headaches and nausea after both sun and lamp, but now don't? I think that I was getting regular sun exposure when I got the symptoms.

There was a lack of sun for a long time recently in the UK, but I still don't seem to have had obvious adverse effects from the lamp, or the spring sun which has been quite intense.

Maybe my health has improved...?

Maybe it has to do with this :
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16437660
The beneficial anticancer action of butyrate may come from its affinity with the Vitamin D receptor so increasing availability of the active hormonal form of vitamin D.

Could it be that not enough butyrate would bring the opposite? Then you would try to reduce vitamin D intake by feeling bad in the sun.

 

[MeSci]

Maybe it has to do with this :
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16437660
The beneficial anticancer action of butyrate may come from its affinity with the Vitamin D receptor so increasing availability of the active hormonal form of vitamin D.

Could it be that not enough butyrate would bring the opposite? Then you would try to reduce vitamin D intake by feeling bad in the sun.

Possible, I suppose.

 

[Asklipia]

Update :
Now taking a bit more RS. A mix of 1/4 teaspoon PS, 1/4 teaspoon arabinogalactan, 1/4 teaspoon inulin/FOS, and 25 g dried plantain every day.
Everyday 10 billion L. plantarum + either Prescript Assist or AOR 3 or Primal Defense Ultra.
Feeling fine with lymphatic symptoms but very few and not lasting.
Sleep is deep. Memories from years ago are coming back.

Something electrical is happening!!!!!!!
When I take all of this, my hair becomes extremely electrified when I brush it. It coming out at right angles with my skull!!!!!
If I stop the supplements for a day, it goes back to normal.
I have stopped three times and every time the static electricity thing came back when I started the probiotics again.

I have taken care to brush my hair in the same place, with the same clothes and I am barefoot on the stone floor.
As though the probiotics give me a kind of eerie strength coming out of my hair.
What is that?????
Maybe related to the grounding stuff people have been reporting about? Maybe Sick = floppy hair and Superwoman = charged hair??????

Very puzzled.
Be well,
Asklipia

 

[Aileen]

Update :
As though the probiotics give me a kind of eerie strength coming out of my hair.
What is that?????
Maybe related to the grounding stuff people have been reporting about? Maybe Sick = floppy hair and Superwoman = charged hair??????

Move over Bionic Woman, the Microbiotic Woman is here!!! You could have so much fun on halloween. (sorry, couldn't resist)

On a serious note, I've now started on 2 probiotics (Align and Florastor) and have PS and arabinogalactan on its way to me. We'll see if anything weird like that happens. Note: weird things and I have a tight relationship! This could get interesting.

 

[MeSci]

Update :
Now taking a bit more RS. A mix of 1/4 teaspoon PS, 1/4 teaspoon arabinogalactan, 1/4 teaspoon inulin/FOS, and 25 g dried plantain every day.
Everyday 10 billion L. plantarum + either Prescript Assist or AOR 3 or Primal Defense Ultra.
Feeling fine with lymphatic symptoms but very few and not lasting.
Sleep is deep. Memories from years ago are coming back.

Something electrical is happening!!!!!!!
When I take all of this, my hair becomes extremely electrified when I brush it. It coming out at right angles with my skull!!!!!
If I stop the supplements for a day, it goes back to normal.
I have stopped three times and every time the static electricity thing came back when I started the probiotics again.

I have taken care to brush my hair in the same place, with the same clothes and I am barefoot on the stone floor.
As though the probiotics give me a kind of eerie strength coming out of my hair.
What is that?????
Maybe related to the grounding stuff people have been reporting about? Maybe Sick = floppy hair and Superwoman = charged hair??????

Very puzzled.
Be well,
Asklipia

I have always been prone to giving and receiving electric shocks, which has made me think that I may be electrically 'leaky', perhaps due to myelitis or demyelination. I used to have a notorious tendency to put juke boxes out of order just trying to play them! I think one pub landlord became decidedly nervous whenever I approached his juke box.

At the start of my ME I had a lot of static electricity as you describe, both in my hair and my clothes. When I undressed in the dark there were visible, audible and tangible sparks! This pretty-well disappeared for years, but has now reappeared on and off. I'm not specifically taking RS, but as a long-term vegan I probably get plenty in my diet. That hasn't changed, but I reduced grains and sugar, and cut out gluten, 2 years ago, and things have been gradually changing (mainly for the better) since then, but with some early symptoms reappearing, like wool allergy and static.

 

[JPV]

Paul Jaminet, author of The Perfect Health Diet, seems to be of the opinion that supplementing with just one type of resistant starch may be detrimental to some gut bacteria. This may also be the key to why some people are having inconsistent results supplementing with just potato starch. If this is indeed the case, perhaps rotating between several types of resistant starch may prove beneficial...

Q&A with Fat Head Readers

Humans have an overnight fast of 12-16 hours and a daily feeding window of 8-12 hours. Gut bacteria have a reproductive life cycle of about an hour when food is available. So during your daily feeding, your bacteria have enough food to reproduce and could potentially double their numbers 8 times, or increase their population 256-fold. Then they go through an overnight fast, and their numbers diminish. Ecologically it is a boom-bust cycle similar to deer multiplying when food is abundant and then starving in the winter.

Within the overnight fast, your immune system has an advantage in shaping the ecology. Where probiotic flora are present, it can reward them by generating mucus; where inflammatory pathogens are present, it punishes them with antimicrobial peptides. During the fast, microbes are relatively defenseless due to lack of resources. During feeding, microbes have the upper hand.

Providing lots of fiber creates a boom-bust ecology on a daily cycle, while a low-fiber diet creates more stable bacterial population levels.

In general, you want to eat the amount of fiber that maximizes microbial diversity (that is, genetic diversity) in the gut. Low microbial diversity is associated with disease, high diversity with great health.

Boom-bust ecologies create a different set of selective pressures on bacteria than ecological systems with stable food supplies. Potentially, too great an amount of fiber might reduce microbial diversity by rewarding species that are able to reproduce most rapidly during the food “boom” and preserve their numbers by hibernating during the overnight “famine”. Many beneficial species may not compete successful with hyper-growers like E. coli in such an ecosystem.

Low microbial diversity in the gut is associated with many diseases. Usually low diversity results from starvation of fiber, but conceivably supplementation with large doses of resistant starch could bring about a similar result.

I consider the optimal amount of fiber to still be an open research question. We don’t know the answer. But I am confident the optimal amount is not “infinite fiber.” There will be some amount that is too much.

Incidentally, getting a diversity of fiber types – not just resistant starch – will be important, as this too will promote microbial diversity. This is one reason a natural whole foods approach is likely to be optimal.

 

[Aileen]

Q&A with Fat Head Readers

Humans have an overnight fast of 12-16 hours and a daily feeding window of 8-12 hours. Gut bacteria have a reproductive life cycle of about an hour when food is available. So during your daily feeding, your bacteria have enough food to reproduce and could potentially double their numbers 8 times, or increase their population 256-fold. Then they go through an overnight fast, and their numbers diminish. Ecologically it is a boom-bust cycle similar to deer multiplying when food is abundant and then starving in the winter.

Low microbial diversity in the gut is associated with many diseases. Usually low diversity results from starvation of fiber, but conceivably supplementation with large doses of resistant starch could bring about a similar result.

I consider the optimal amount of fiber to still be an open research question. We don’t know the answer. But I am confident the optimal amount is not “infinite fiber.” There will be some amount that is too much.

Incidentally, getting a diversity of fiber types – not just resistant starch – will be important, as this too will promote microbial diversity. This is one reason a natural whole foods approach is likely to be optimal.

Very well stated and something I hadn't heard before. I think that most of us who are doing this RS challenge are not looking at it as a lifelong plan.

For me at least, the goal is to get my microbiome balanced, gut barrier healed and when things are working fine again (hopefully) then to figure out a balanced diet with balanced amounts of various types of fiber and other foods. Right now I'm tossing all kinds of pre and probiotics at it trying to sort out the mess. This is intended to be relatively short term, perhaps with "booster shots" every now and then.

 

[Violeta]

The herb sarsaparilla helps to clear the blood of endotoxin, if anyone needs relief from side effects of die off.

Medicinal Plants. 2nd ed. Rocklin, CA; Prima Publishing: 1995:7.)
Increasing evidence indicates that sarsaparilla acts as an endotoxin binder (this binding action helps to purify the blood of toxins). As bacteria break down, they release endotoxins that normally are cleansed from the gut by the lymphatic system and the liver. If the endotoxins are excessive and cannot be eliminated, the body experiences a toxic overload. This toxic overload triggers an inflammatory reaction as the body moves into a fight pattern, causing a flare-up of symptoms of arthritic pain, skin inflammation, and irritability. Sarsaparilla’s binding of endotoxins in the intestines before they get into the bloodstream prevents inflammation. (Taylor L. The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs. Garden City Park, NY: Square One Publishers; 2005.)