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Rs6.0
Resistant Starch Research
Likely helps
91 peer-reviewed studies
What the evidence says
Likely helps
Resistant Starch appears to help in 18 of 20 studies with measurable effects — the evidence leans clearly favourable.
Most evidence is from high-quality meta-analyses and randomised trials published 2005–2026 with a typical study size of 60 participants.
Based on 91 studies · 26 meta-analyses · 45 RCTs · 8,997 total participants
Confidence
High confidence
What the studies found
18helped2unclear· 71 more without graded effect data
By outcome
Glucose & metabolicImproves insulin sensitivity via SCFA production · 4-8 weeks
Likely helps82 studies
Digestive healthPrebiotic fermentation produces butyrate and supports gut health · 2-4 weeks
Likely helps33 studies
Therapeutic & clinical
Likely helps24 studies
Weight management
Likely helps20 studies
InflammationIncreased butyrate production and beneficial bacteria · 2-4 weeks
Probably helps7 studies
Cholesterol & lipids
Likely helps5 studies
Heart & blood pressure
Too few graded studies1 study
Liver health
Too few graded studies1 study
Safety profile
Too few graded studies1 study
By the numbers
Pulled from 46 studies with measurable effects
Likely real effects
75%
across studies
People studied
8,997
typical study: 60 people
Strongest designs
71
26 pooled, 45 randomised
Showed benefit
90%
18/20 studies
How long studies ran
Under a week
1
1–4 weeks
2
1–3 months
4
3+ months
1
Populations Studied
General population5
Mixed populations2
Healthy adults2
Adults2
Active research area
64 studies in the last 5 years · Latest meta-analysis: 2024
2SCFA productionSystematic ReviewCited 29×n=2,263 · very large study2022
Available evidence suggests that RS supplementation is tolerated in both healthy subjects and in those with an underlying medical condition.
Sobh M et al. · The American journal of clinical nutrition (2022)
Twenty-seven (69%) studies evaluated the impact of RS supplementation in healthy subjects whereas 12 (31%) studies included individuals with an underlying medical condition (e.g., obesity, prediabetes).
Twenty-one (78%) studies reporting SCFAs used type 2 RS with a dose of 20-40 g/d for 1-4 wk.
In 16 of 23 studies (70%), SCFA production was increased, in 7 studies there was no change in SCFA concentration before and after RS supplementation, and in 1 study SCFA concentration decreased.
3C-reactive proteinMeta-AnalysisCited 11×n=739 · large study2022
Subgroup analysis shown that CRP level significant reduced in subjects from the east (SMD = -1.501; 95%CI: -2.662, -0.340; P = 0.011) or suffering from diseases (SMD: -1.057; 95%CI: -1.999, -0.115; P = 0.028).Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01635581.2021.2019284.
Wei Y et al. · Nutrition and cancer (2022)
No clear effect
← WorseNo effectBetter →
We used from the effect size, as estimated by the standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) to perform the random method meta-analysis, with P value ≦0.05 as statistically significant.
The 16 included trials with 17 effect sizes included a total of 739 participants in this paper.
No significant effects on C-reactive protein (CRP) (SMD = -0.583; 95%CI: -1.270, 0.104; ), superoxide dismutase (SOD) (SMD = 0.091; 95%CI: -0.156, 0.338; ), and malondialdehyde (MDA) (SMD = -0.320; 95%CI: -0.907, 0.266; ).
15Cardiometabolic outcomesMeta-AnalysisCited 37×n=670 · large study2019
Short-term RS2 supplementation in humans is of limited cardiometabolic benefit.
Snelson M et al. · Nutrients (2019)
However, these outcomes were heavily influenced by positive results from a small number of individual studies which contradicted the conclusions of the majority of trials.
RS2 had no effects on any other metabolic outcomes.
All studies ranged from 1-12 weeks in duration and contained small sample sizes (10-60 participants), and most had an unclear risk of bias.
Jia L et al. · International journal of medical sciences (2021)
Results: After screening 65 records, five RCTs (n = 179) were included.
Analyses of blood levels of uric acid, p-cresyl sulfate, indoxyl sulfate, high sensitive C-reaction protein, albumin and phosphorus yielded no significant difference.
17Gut microbiome alterationsMeta-AnalysisCited 16×n=248 · medium study2023
The altered gut microbiome may contribute to improve the blood glucose level and insulin resistance, which may be a potential treatment route for diabetes, obesity and other metabolic diseases.
Chen R et al. · Food & function (2023)
In this article, we performed a meta-analysis of a total of 955 samples of 248 individuals from the seven studies included to compare the gut microbiota of the baseline and the end-point of RS intake.
Different types of resistant starch and different populations led to varied responses on the gut microbiome.
The altered gut microbiome may contribute to improve the blood glucose level and insulin resistance, which may be a potential treatment route for diabetes, obesity and other metabolic diseases.
18Serum indoxyl sulfate reductionMeta-AnalysisCited 10×n=301 · medium study2022
The intake of RS reduced the serum IS, serum phosphorus, IL-6, and uric acid levels significantly in dialysis patients, while hs-CRP, serum creatinine, BUN, serum paracresol sulfate, and blood lipid showed no significant changes.
Du X et al. · Journal of diabetes research (2022)
Noticeable benefit
← WorseNo effectBetter →
Likely real
RS intake significantly reduced serum indolephenol sulfate (IS), blood phosphorus, IL-6, and uric acid levels in dialysis patients.
The mean difference (MD) of serum IS (P = 0.0002) in the dialysis subgroup was -12.57 μmol/L (95% CI: -19.28, -5.86 μmol/L).
The MD of blood phosphorus (P = 0.03) was -0.39 mg/dl (95% CI: -0.78, -0.01 mg/dl).
Additionally, more studies are needed to prove whether ingesting high-fiber carbohydrate-containing products per se can result in blunted glycemic and insulinemic responses and which DF type and amount are more effective.
Tsitsou S et al. · Nutrients (2023)
Data on insoluble DF and glucose metabolism are scarce.
The same mixed results for glycemia can be seen in healthy volunteers with overweight/obesity, while resistant starch seems to improve insulinemic responses.
Finally, more studies need to examine the acute effects of DF in starchy foods on glucose metabolism and insulin secretion in individuals facing glucose abnormalities.
20Bowel mucosal damage reductionMeta-AnalysisCited 23×n=164 · medium study2020
Our review demonstrates that resistant starch is associated with reduced histology damage in animal studies, and improvements in clinical remission in IBD patients.
Montroy J et al. · BMC gastroenterology (2020)
Huge benefit
← WorseNo effectBetter →
Preclinically, resistant starch was associated with a significant reduction in bowel mucosal damage compared to placebo (standardized mean difference - 1.83, 95% CI - 2.45 to - 1.20).
Our review demonstrates that resistant starch is associated with reduced histology damage in animal studies, and improvements in clinical remission in IBD patients.
These results need to be tempered by the risk of bias of included studies.