Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T16:33:36.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Measurement of resistant starch in vitro and in vivo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Hans N. Englyst
Affiliation:
MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2DH
Susan M. Kingman
Affiliation:
MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2DH
Geoffrey J. Hudson
Affiliation:
MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2DH
John H. Cummings
Affiliation:
MRC Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2DH
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The digestibility of the starch in plant foods is highly variable, and is dependent on a number of factors, including the physical structure of both the starch and the food matrix. An in vitro technique has been developed to categorize starch in plant foods according to its likely rate and extent of digestion in the human small intestine. The in vitro method provides values for rapidly digestible starch, slowly digestible starch and resistant starch (RS). In the present study values for the RS content of foods, as measured by the analytical technique, were compared with the recovery of starch from these foods when fed to healthy ileostomates. Nine ileostomy subjects were given a polysaccharide-free diet with a breakfast supplement, on each of 2 d (two subjects) or 3 d (seven subjects), of biscuits made from wheat, potato or banana flours or from moist-heat-processed wheat or maize flours. RS intakes measured in vifro ranged from 8·5 to 15·0 g/d for the test biscuits, and mean starch recoveries in ileostomy effluent were 100·4 (n5, range 91−106)% of those values, but there was substantial variation between individuals. It is proposed that RS is defined as ‘the sum of starch and starch-degradation products that, on average, reach the human large intestine’. The analytical method for the measurement of RS in vitro based on this definition is shown to provide an accurate prediction of the average amount of starch that is likely to escape complete digestion and absorption in the human small intestine.

Type
Resistant starch: Measurement and properties
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1996

References

REFERENCES

Cummings, J. H. (1995). Short-chain fatty acids. In Human Colonic Bacteria: Nutritional, Physiological and Pathological Aspects, pp. 101130 [Macfarlane, G. and Gibson, G. editors]. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Dahlqvist, A. & Borgstrom, B. (1961). Digestion and absorption of disaccharides in man. Biochemical Journal 81, 411418.Google Scholar
Englyst, H. N. & Cummings, J. H. (1985). Digestion of the polysaccharides of some cereal foods in the human small intestine. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 42, 778787.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Englyst, H. N. & Cummings, J. H. (1986). Digestion of the carbohydrates of banana (Musa paradisiaca sapientum) in the human small intestine. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 44, 4250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Englyst, H. N. & Cummings, J. H. (1987). Digestion of the polysaccharides of potato in the small intestine of man. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 45, 423431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Englyst, H. N. & Kingman, S. M. (1990). Dietary fiber and resistant starch. A nutritional classification of plant polysaccharides. In Dietary Fiber, pp. 4965 [Kritchevsky, D.Bonfield, C. and Anderson, J. W. editors]. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Englyst, H. N, Kingman, S. M. & Cummings, J. H. (1992 a). Classification and measurement of nutritionally important starch fractions. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46, S33S50.Google ScholarPubMed
Englyst, H. N., Quigley, M. E., Hudson, G. J. & Cummings, J. H. (1992 b). Determination of dietary fibre as non-starch polysaccharides by gas-liquid chromatography. Analyst 117, 17071714.Google Scholar
Englyst, H. N., Wiggins, H. S. & Cummings, J. H. (1982). Determination of the non-starch polysaccharides in plant foods by gas-liquid chromatography of constituent sugars as alditol acetates. Analyst 107, 307318.Google Scholar
McNeil, N. I., Bingham, S., Cole, T. J., Grant, A. M. & Cummings, J. H. (1982). Diet and health of people with an ileostomy. II. Ileostomy function and nutritional state. British Journal of Nutrition 47, 407415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rombeau, J. L., Kripke, S. A. & Settle, R. G. (1990). Short-chain fatty acids. Production, absorption, metabolism, and intestinal effects. In Dietary Fiber, pp. 317337 [Kritchevsky, D.Bonfield, C. and Anderson, J. W. editors]. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar