Equal Time: 10 Fat-Burning Carbs (CarbLovers.com)

Health's CarbLovers book greatly simplifies the information known about resistant starch. It has actually been investigated for over 20 years by independent researchers all over the world. A lot of information is available at www.resistantstarch.com. To date, 92 human clinical trials have been published (with more in the works) and 177 animal studies and 81 in vitro (benchtop models using cells and tissue) on one type of natural resistant starch called Hi-maize. For additional info on Hi-maize, visit www.hi-maize.com.

Most of the older published studies on resistant starch focused on the digestive health benefits - increased regularity, decreased pH, reduced ammonia and phenols (known carcinogens), and cancer development pathways. There is no doubt that insoluble resistant starch acts like a dietary fiber within the large intestine. It's accepted as a type of dietary fiber around the world.

Over the past few years, however, the research has gotten much more interesting. 4 human clinical trials have shown that when Hi-maize resistant starch is added on top of a regular diet, insulin sensitivity improves. It seems that individuals with insulin resistance (pre-diabetics) are the most sensitive and respond the most after adding Hi-maize resistant starch to their diet. Increases of 40-50% in insulin sensitivity have been shown in reseasrch. Even the National Institutes of Health are investigating this mechanism. Dr. Ron Krauss at Oakland Children's Hospital has a study underway right now funded by NIH.

It is also showing improvements in satiety or appetite control. Four studies have been published (at the Univ of Minnesota, University of Toronto, Lund University in Sweden and the University of Surrey in the UK) showing that people were less hungry and/or consumed less food after eating resistant starch. In one case with a high dose, people ate 10% less food without any changes in hunger. That's 300 calories less without feeling deprived.

Relevant to low carb diets, Dr. Shusuke Toden and Dr. David Topping in Australia have looked at implications of adding resistant starch on top of a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Animals who ate high protein without resistant starch had significant increases in the DNA damage within their large intestines. That means they had genetic damage that is probably linked to increased risk of colon cancer and an explanation why people who eat high amounts of protein have higher incidence of colon cancer. If, however, resistant starch was fed at the same time as a high protein diet, the damage was completely prevented. There's something about the fermentation of resistant starch in the large intestine that keeps colon tissue healthy - even under the stress of a high protein diet.

The editors of Health have interpreted the substantial amount of evidence on isolated resistant starch to resistant starch naturally occurring in foods. You could, however, maintain a low carb lifestyle by using isolated resistant starch and adding it into whatever diet you choose to maintain. There are a lot of reasons why you should do so - especially if you're eating a lot of protein.