Ritchie
Member
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2015
- Messages
- 490
1. Endotoxin is from microbes feeding on the starch in the gut, and then dying and leaving endotoxin hanging around to get absorbed from the gut into the circulation. (Maybe excessive endotoxin can also stimulate serotonin production in the gut itself? - not sure about this.) (Endotoxin issues can also apply to other foods that we don't digest fully and leave to the microbes.)
2. Persorption of starch grains is a different issue - they can, according to Peat, get into the circulation themselves, and block tiny capillaries in the cardiovascular system. (Particle persorption issues can also apply to other small insoluble particles, including the excipients in some supplements, and maybe activated charcoal powder.)
Point is that these assertions are quite unfounded, apart from a few rat studies with raw, uncooked starch (i think it was uncooked rice or maybe corn they fed the rats).. We as humans, in general, digest cooked starch such as rice, potatoes, tubers, corn, etc extremely well with quickness and efficiently, converting it almost immediately to glucose for the body to use. I mean we are so adapted to eating starchy foods that the digestion process literally starts in our saliva with a specific enzyme called amylase, present in all human saliva, which acts to immediately and specifically convert starch into sugars (glucose) for the body to use. This continues from the initial mouth saliva through the rest of the digestive process. When it comes to worrying about things fermenting in the gut and causing endotoxin, it seems starch would be the least of the concerns. I have heard Peat specifically stating that he has observed and was amazed at how quickly and efficiently starch is absorbed and converted into glucose for energy in the digestive system. So much so that he is concerned about the insulin spiking effect starch may have due to its rapid absorption.
If you don't mind me asking, what are you basing these concerns that you have listed above on? Apart from the afore mentioned rat studies Peat refers to.
I think the persorption issue may conceivably also apply to dry-cooked starch - that is, starchy foods that are not cooked with water, and therefore not gelatinised. Eg. think shortbread or other dry biscuits or crackers, and maybe potato crisps. (Cooking them like this means they can be stored much longer, and plenty of people eat them.) There is something significantly different about gelatinised starch. Peat does make a point of saying that starchy foods like potatoes and oats, if eaten, should be boiled for a long time.
What evidence have you come across that causes you to make these assertions and conclusions?
Well there may be a myriad of other factors at play, it would be a mistake to base broad sweeping conclusions off anecdotal claims from people on the internet that you don't know and have no firm understanding of the context these issues may be arising in. I mean how do you know these microbiomes that you are saying are causing the problems these people experience aren't feeding on fermenting meat in the gut, or cheese, or fermenting milk particles, or some other fibre unrelated to starch?I think that might be where individual microbiomes etc come into play. Some people - as reported here (and I think Peat may be among them) - really do seem empirically to have digestive trouble or other noticable symptoms with starch - for them, there is real reason to assume otherwise, and perhaps to be cautious about starch when other suitable options are available.
I mean simply starch (glucose) and sugar (sucrose, or glucose+fructose) (i'm using the word sugar here for ease of communication, as I did with the word fruit above). So rice, potatoes, tubers, corn and so forth for starch. Fruit, maple syrup, honey, fruit juice, white sugar etc for sugar.Considering food, rather than just isolated molecules, maybe:
Fruit and starchy tubers?
Sweet and starchy foods?
(or if you want to focus on the molecules, sugar/fructose/sucrose and starch?)
Starch is an excellent form of carbohydrate and thus energy, not to mention that most starchy foods are constituted with a very good quality protein. And as Peat constantly and explicitly reiterates, energy is the most critical factor: Getting enough carbohydrates to support healthy metabolism and all the body's energetic requirements is crucial. Cutting it out is cutting out a dense and easily accessible, easily utilised source of energy. Fruit and other sugars are also excellent forms of carbohydrates, and it is my belief that a mixture of both is ideal. The research does tend to support this, and studies done on people such as the Okinawans show that a combination of starchy foods such as tubers and rice, combined with fruit, seems to be ideal for health.