Research

Mixed

Higher dietary resistant starch (RS) intake is associated with significantly lower all-cause and cancer mortality, but not cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.

To potentially lower your risk of cancer and all-cause mortality, aim to increase your intake of resistant starch. The best sources are whole grains and legumes. A key strategy is to cook starchy foods (like potatoes, rice, or pasta) and then cool them before eating, as this process increases resistant starch content. Aim for the highest intake levels seen in the study (approx. 4.7 g per 1,000 kcal of energy), but do not do this by simply eating more total carbohydrates; instead, swap digestible carbs for RS-rich foods to avoid increasing total energy intake.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Higher RS intake is significantly associated with lower cancer and all-cause mortality, but not significantly with CVD mortality.
Jiang Wan et al. · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2022

Why this rating

Large sample size (n=42,586), long follow-up, and rigorous adjustment for confounders, but limited by observational design and potential measurement error in RS estimation.

Source

The association of dietary resistance starch intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality

Jiang Wan et al. · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2022

cohort · n=42586Cited 6×
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