Resistant Starch can Reduce Colorectal Cancer Risk

Eating a diet with high level of resistant starch can help reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer, a new study suggests.

Bananas that are still green, potatoes (cooked and cooled), whole grains, peas, beans, chickpeas are all good source of resistant starch, researchers said.

Red meat is known to increase colorectal cancer risk. A latest study suggests that eating foods high in butyrate resistant starch can keep the gut healthy and reduce cancer risk.

"Red meat and resistant starch have opposite effects on the colorectal cancer-promoting miRNAs, the miR-17-92 cluster," said Karen J. Humphreys, PhD, a research associate at the Flinders Center for Innovation in Cancer at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, according to a news release. "This finding supports consumption of resistant starch as a means of reducing the risk associated with a high red meat diet."

Butyrate resistant starch isn't broken down in the stomach and passes into the small intestine and then to the large intestines.

In the gut, resistant starch acts like fiber. Microbes in the intestines break the starch and release beneficial molecules called short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate, Humphreys added.

The small study was based on data from 23 volunteers, of whom 17 were males. Participants either ate diet high in red meat or a diet that had meat plus butyrated resistant starch, for a month. The volunteers were to switch diets after four weeks.

The researchers found that participants who ate 300 grams of red meat per day for four weeks had a 30 percent increase in the levels of molecules such as miR-17-92, in their rectal tissue. These genetic molecules are associated with higher risk of cell proliferation. Consuming 40 grams of resistant starch along with red meat reduced miR-17-92 levels.

"Total meat consumption in the USA, European Union, and the developed world has continued to increase from the 1960s, and in some cases has nearly doubled," added Humphreys, according to a news release.

The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Preventative Health Flagship), and the Flinders Medical Center Foundation funded the research and it is published in the journal Cancer Prevention.