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Hello, this is Karen Nicholl family nurse practitioner and you are listening to itchy and bitchy a podcast that provides answers to your many health questions.

I want to say before I get started that there is a major construction going on outside my home and so I apologize for any hammering or drilling you might hear during this podcast.

We'll do our best to eliminate that but hey life is life.

Last week I read about the findings of a recent study using the dietary supplement called resistance starch in reducing cancer risk in a specific high-risk patient population.

And learning the results of this study made me ask the question, do most people know what resistance starch is and what benefits it holds?

And I would guess that most people know what a starch or starchy food is but what about resistance starch?

I had dinner with some friends and family members the other day and asked them if they knew what resistance starch is and what it does and no one could provide an answer.

So in light of these recent study results I thought it would be helpful for you to know what this supplement is and why it can be important to include in your daily diet.

Resistance starch refers to those forms of starch which escape digestion in the small bowel and they pass on to the colon where they are fermented resulting in the production of short chain fatty acids.

Butorate, one of the fatty acids has anti-cancer properties in the colon.

While this information led to initial enthusiasm as to the potential of resistance starch as an agent to prevent cancer, especially colorectal cancer, studies prior to a very recent study didn't show this benefit.

The study to which I'm referring showed that eating 30 grams a day of resistance starch reduces the risk of upper gastrointestinal cancers by over 60% in people at high risk of hereditary cancers, over 60%.

I mean it's just remarkable finding.

This is the first time a nutrient has been shown to prevent these cancers in people with this hereditary condition.

This study did not include finding the reason this supplement helps, but it's theorized that by changing how the gut microbiome functions, resistance starch reduces the amount of DNA damage in the gut.

I'll say that again because I didn't say it very well the first time.

It changes how the microbiome functions in the gut and so resistance starch reduces the amount of DNA damage in the gut.

To confirm this theory it will have to be tested in future experiments because that wasn't part of this study.

The International Trial, known as CAP2-CAP2, which stands for Concerted Action Polyp Prevention 2, involved almost a thousand patients with Lynch syndrome.

Lynch syndrome is a genetic condition that increases the risk of many cancers including those found in the colon, brain, stomach, pancreas, ovary, small bowel, liver system, brain, kidney and possibly breast and prostate.

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