12 December 2011

resistant starches and gut flora



Have you ever heard of Resistant Starches?
The were first discovered (by accident)
In 1982. And have been making waves ever since.


Resistant Starches are sometimes left over
after the liver gleans the monosaccharides
from the carbs we eat.
They also sometimes bypass "regular" digestion (small intestine)
altogether and go directly to the colon (large intestine)
to be broken down there.

This is a good time to mention gut flora. (link
"WE" don't digest some of our own carbs - per se!
The bacteria and microbes in our intestines do that for us.  
The microbes then excrete Short Chain Fatty Acids, 
which go on to do all kinds of great and wonderful things.
For example. 
Lab Rats who lack this process typically eat 30% more calories.
Lucky Rats who have the process have better lab values 
in almost every area tested. (link)
The work that E Coli (and their Brethren) do is vital to all life and health.
Perhaps this is one reason why some long term 
Very Low Carb or Zero Carb Diets 
can fail after a certain amount of time. My thinking.
They say that artificial sweeteners can change these flora, too.
It takes 2 years for a newborn baby to fully develop the flora.
Maybe this is (in part) why the ever-mystical "Two-Year Fail" 
occurs in Atkins so much. Many LoCarbers and Paleo/Primal people
 eat a Fermented Sauerkraut to help with the process. 
Like Bubbies Brand (link)  or Kimche.

Don't confuse PREbiotics with PRObiotics.
PRObiotics are actual microbes we ingest,
like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.


Learning  all the way!

3 comments:

  1. I'm considering adding Kefir to my diet...leaning towards water versus milk Kefir, but haven't taken the next step.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I NEED you to go into all of this even further. I really think you could discuss this daily over the course of a couple of weeks to answer all of my questions. hahaha Would any saurkraut do or is that brand special? How do you get kefir?

    ReplyDelete
  3. What is with the purple macaroni? Just kidding...once again, thanks for educating me.

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear from you!