Summer is winding down, but our favorite summer dishes remain. When we gather for barbeques to celebrate independence under a sky of fireworks or simply for pool parties to beat the heat, the most sought-after summer dishes in my family are the pasta and potato salads. They bring us not only joy, but also good health! Cooking and then cooling starch dishes like pasta salad and potato salad before consumption increases their levels of resistant starch, which provides many health benefits. A recent Ask IFAS publication, FSHN26-7, explains this process called starch retrogradation.
When eaten, resistant starch resists digestion in the small intestine. It then moves on to the large intestine, where it slowly ferments via “good” bacteria. Foods with resistant starch are harder to digest because of the way starch molecules are stored or structured in plant cells. Alternatively, the starch could have undergone industrial chemical processes to make it resistant to digestion. Various grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, roots, and tubers have resistant starches.
Health Benefits
When eating pasta and/or potato salads, you can reap the health benefits of eating resistant starch. Health benefits of consuming resistant starch may include improved gut health, blood sugar regulation, production of short-chain fatty acids, and much more. For some foods, cooking can break down the structural integrity of starches. A process called starch retrogradation can help remedy this problem.
What to Do
First, cook the starch dish. Then, cool it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. This process creates a firmer starch structure that resists digestion. As a result, certain foods may retain or even increase resistant starch content. Some foods you will need to reheat to eat, and you might not lose more resistant starch. However, some dishes cannot be reheated without losing some resistant starch again. Pasta and potato salads are typically eaten cold. If you make these salads a day before your summer event, you too can reap the benefits of eating resistant starch.
Let’s make the family happy and the body healthy. Break out the cold pasta and potato salads!
Learn all the details around resistant starch and how it works by reading Ask IFAS publication FSHN26-7, “Resistant Starch: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Add More to Your Plate.”
Read More
Yellow corn and especially white corn are good sources of resistant starch. See a previous blog I wrote about what other nutritional value sweet corn can offer.
For reading more about healthy eating, remember to Ask IFAS!
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