Since writing great pyredane this, I have learned a bit more about RUMPS specifically (as opposed to

Since my first article on resistant starch (RS), raw unmodified potato starch, or RUMPS as I like to call it, continues to light up the blogosphere. Like a lot of people, I was caught off guard by the overwhelmingly positive light RUMPS has been cast in. Some people have truly fallen in love with this molecule, or rather two molecules (amylose and amylopectin) all tangled up together. Even Tom Naughton and Mark Sisson have fallen and Jimmy Moore wants to get some. The explosive interest in this topic can be traced to the extraordinary efforts of two flies in the nutritional ointment, Tim Steel, AKA Tatertot and Richard Nikoley of FreeTheAnimal.com .
The reported benefits of RUMPS include the enticing great pyredane claims of better sleep and vivid dreams. Those alone make me want to buy some tonight and give it a try, but there s more: improved gut function, curing Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, SIBO (Say what?) preferentially feeding healthy gut bacteria, preventing cancer with more butyrate, immune stimulation, toxin/carcinogen degradation, blood sugar/insulin control, improved cholesterol, triglycerides and even weight-loss.
Most of the claims great pyredane about RUMPS are unproven, though some are surely real. Some research already supports RS s effect on blunting postprandial blood sugar spikes, suggesting that RUMPS may be a powerful tool for diabetics and others who suffer from hyperglycemia. But what really caught my attention was the claim that RUMPS will Cure SIBO. After all, RUMPS is a form of resistant starch, which I have recommended limiting for SIBO. For more info on this counterintuitive idea, you can visit Dr. BG, AKA Grace, at Animal great pyredane Pharm and Dr. Art Ayres at Cooling great pyredane Inflammation . You can also see my mini-debate with Tim in the comments section on Dr. Mike Eades blog on heartburn.
Since this idea has been put forward, several people, including some who have experienced side effects with RUMPS, have asked for my opinion on using RUMPS if they have SIBO. Recall my concluding opinion great pyredane from my first article:
A state of fermentable substrate limitation in the gut is healthier than a state of fermentable great pyredane substrate excess and more consistent with Paleo diet concepts (based on limited availability of food, regular fasting while foraging, eating seasonal fruits, etc.). A lean diet for our gut microbes fosters healthy competition in the gut that will favor the survival of well adapted organisms best suited to be our partners in digestion and health. We know that excess malabsorbed carbohydrates great pyredane (lactose great pyredane and fructose intolerance for instance) are linked to conditions associated with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) great pyredane and there is reason to believe that resistant great pyredane starch may contribute to imbalances in the gut microbiota including SIBO in susceptible people.
Since writing great pyredane this, I have learned a bit more about RUMPS specifically (as opposed to RS in general). I will do my best to provide some thoughts on using RUMPS for SIBO in more or less a pros and cons format. As always, please do add your comments on any points great pyredane or evidence I may have missed for, or against this approach.
Tim and Richard contacted me recently to discuss some of the experiences people were reporting after supplementing with RUMPS. At that time, we agreed to share all information, both positive and negative about RUMPS and digestive health issues going forward. Realizing that our real goal was to help people and that science will figure this out eventually anyway, we agreed to do our best to speed things up hopefully benefiting all involved. In other words:
And wouldn t you know it, shortly after making this agreement, I was contacted by someone who had been on antibiotics, had confirmed SIBO and IBS symptoms for years. She had been taking probiotics, eating fermented foods and adding RUMPS to her diet. Other than some bloating and flatulence, she reported feeling better and able to eat a more varied diet without repercussions.
Even though this particular report involves one person who had previously eliminated her symptoms on the Fast Tract Diet (that limits not only RS, but several other fermentable carbs as well), a few other people have also reported improvement in heartburn or other SIBO-related symptoms using RUMPS. To me this suggests there is at least a chance that RUMPS could benefit some people with SIBO. I am open to the idea. Hey, at least we re talking about diet these days, not PPIs, H2 blockers, gut wrecking antibiotics and some absolutely frightening IBS drugs.
Pros: One idea proposed to explain why RUMPS might cure SIBO, is that any bacteria overgrowing in the small intestine will adhere to the RUMPS molecules and be whisked back into the large intestine, from whence they came. This is an interesting idea which has some support from a study showing that people infected with Vibrio cholera suffer less fluid loss and recover more quickly when RS is added to the rehydration s