Starch is the most important carbohydrate for human survival. For a long time, it has been believed that starch can be completely hydrolyzed and absorbed in the human small intestine.
Starchy foods are also considered a major source of glucose in the blood. However, not all “starch” will be converted into sugar, which will cause blood sugar to rise and increase the burden on pancreatic islets.
In recent years, it has been found that many starches are affected by certain factors or processing processes, and their structure changes, resulting in a process of anti-digestion in the small intestine, which does not cause increased blood sugar and insulin response.
British physiologist Hans defined it as Resistant Starch (RS) in 1983 [1]. In 1992, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defined it according to Englyst et al. and its starch degradation products”.
The main sources of our blood sugar are starchy foods, glycogen in the liver, and gluconeogenesis.
Ordinary starchy foods, including rice noodles, cereals and tubers, are converted into small molecules of sugar under the action of amylase (mainly present in the mouth and pancreas), and are finally absorbed into the blood in the small intestine.
The advantages of resistant starch are that it is not “recognized” by amylase, does not generate heat, does not raise blood sugar, and ferments to produce short-chain fatty acids. Don’t underestimate “short-chain fatty acids”, they are “important weapons” for the extensive regulation of intestinal flora. The imbalance of intestinal flora has been confirmed to be closely related to the occurrence of obesity and diabetes.
Resistant starch ingredients began to be used in food in 1994. Since then, various resistant starch ingredients have appeared one after another, and the Hi.Maize and Novelose brand resistant series products have spread all over the world. At the same time, in the past 10 years or so, chemically modified resistant starch has also been used as a low-energy health care nutritional ingredient in bread, breakfast cereals, noodles and dairy products and other foods.
The safety of resistant starch products has been demonstrated to a certain extent in the practice of more than ten years. In the United States, non-chemically denatured resistant starch products are classified as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS), and are classified under existing food rather than new resource food regulations. For the RS4 type, all countries have classified it under the management of modified starch for food.