Carbs that Protect Against Cancer

Carbs have gotten a pretty bad rap over the past few decades, with “healthy” recipes and health-focused folks doing everything they can to avoid them altogether.

But carbs actually aren’t evil, and there’s new focus on a specific type of carbohydrate that’s actually really good for you. New studies even say it may help manage type 2 diabetes and lower your risk of developing cancer.

Meet resistant starches

These carbs have caught fire on social media, with people posting a ton of videos of themselves refrigerating their rice and pasta in an effort to load up on this nutrient.

Of course, resistant starches aren’t covered in your standard health classes so it’s more understandable to have questions about what these are and why you should care about them. Here’s everything to know about resistant starches, plus how to reap all their healthy benefits.

What is a resistant starch?

Starches are a complex carbohydrate that are found in plant foods, says Alissa Lupu, CDN, a nutritionist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Starch is digested, broken down into glucose (a.k.a. sugar), and absorbed by the body.

Resistant starches, on the other hand, are a form of complex carbohydrate that the body cannot break down. As such, they pass through to the colon and support the beneficial bacteria that live there, Lupu says.

Where do resistant starches come from?

All those TikTok posts about putting rice and pasta into the fridge? They’re on to something, says Jessica Cording, RD, author of The Little Book of Game-Changers. “When you cool starchy foods, some of the starches that are digestible convert to resistant starches in a progress called retrogradation,” she says.

That doesn’t mean you need to eat cold pasta from now on. “The cooling process creates resistant starches that remain even when you reheat the food before eating,” Lupu says. “This is particularly true if you cool the foods in the refrigerator.”

Whole grains, beans, and seeds like flax and pumpkin inherently have resistant starch, Cording says. Bananas that are just beginning to get ripe (i.e. right past being green) also have some resistant starch, she adds.

While resistant starches are a healthier form of carbs, Cording says they’re not a magical nutrient. “Resistant starch won’t magically transform your body, but it is functional and helpful,” she says.

Why are resistant starches good for you?

Resistant starches actually act more like fiber than a traditional starch, according to Lindsay Malone, RDN, MS, an instructor in the Department of Nutrition at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Of course, fiber has proven perks—it helps promote good digestive health, lowers the risk of heart disease and diabetes, and can help with weight management, per the Mayo Clinic. Resistant starch has some of the same benefits, says Cording.

Plus, resistant starch provides fewer digestible calories and serves as a prebiotic, feeding beneficial gut bacteria, per Malone.

When bacteria in the gut consume resistant starch, they produce gasses along with short-chain fatty acids, Lupu explains. “These short-chain fatty acids—butyrate in particular— provide nourishment to the cells of the colon and generally act to protect them,” she says.