Butyric Acid From Fiber And Starch

[javin]

I just got done reading Matt Stone's book "Diet Recovery: Restoring Hormonal Health, Metabolism, Mood, and Your Relationship with Food". Overall it was a really enjoyable read; Matt has a cool style of writing.

One thing I found interesting and wanted to start a discussing here about is butyric acid.

We all know that butyric acid speeds up metabolism. Matt has even said that it's probably the most metabolically stimulating substance there is.

What I didn't know before is that butyric acid is supplied in greatest abundance by the fermentation of fiber and resistant starch in the digestive tract. Some good sources of fiber and resistant starch are grains, corn, root vegetables, etc.

With seeing so many Peat followers completely eliminating grains and starch from their diet, I wonder if that is perhaps hindering their progress in increasing their metabolism.

Thoughts?

 

[CoolTweetPete]

There is also a fair amount of butyric acid in butter, which Dr. Peat does recommend.

Here is a relevant quote from him,

“The food industry is promoting the use of various gums and starches, which are convenient thickeners and stabilizers for increasing shelf-life, with the argument that the butyric acid produced when they are fermented by intestinal bacteria is protective. However, intestinal fermentation increases systemic and brain serotonin, and the short-chain fatty acids can produce a variety of inflammatory and cytotoxic effect. Considering the longevity and stress-resistance of germ-free animals, choosing foods (such as raw carrots or cooked bamboo shoots or cooked mushrooms) which accelerate peristalsis and speed transit through the bowel, while suppressing bacterial growth, seems like a convenient approach to increasing longevity.”

Don't know how that would relate to his recommendation of using butter. Maybe the inflammatory / cytotoxic effect is only present when butryic acid is produced through endogenous fermentation? Seems a bit far fetched, unless I'm missing something.

 

[javin]

There is also a fair amount of butyric acid in butter, which Dr. Peat does recommend.

Yes I was aware, but supposedly it's not much in comparison to how much gets formed from the fiber/starches. But if the fermentation also increases systemic and brain serotonin + inflammation, perhaps it isn't worth it.

 

[Parsifal]

Is there butyric acid in cheese/cream as well? How much is produced daily in the colon and how much do we eat when we eat butter or other things that contain it?

 

[javin]

Is there butyric acid in cheese/cream as well? How much is produced daily in the colon and how much do we eat when we eat butter or other things that contain it?

From Matt Stone's book:
"Dairy fat doesn't have the same content of medium-chain triglycerides as coconut, but it does contain more butyric acid than any other food. While the overall butyric acid content is pretty low overall (I think it's about 2.5% of the fat roughly), it's better than nothing."
"Butyric acid is something we get primarily from the fermentation of fiber and resistant starch in the digestive tract. The digestive tract is built to feast on the fermentation of undigested plant matter into easily-absorbable short-chain saturated fatty acids (like butyric acid, but also acetic and propionic acids – by the way propionic acid is thought to reduce insulin resistance dramatically)."

It sounds like we would get a heck of a lot more from fiber/starches.

 

[tara]

There is also a fair amount of butyric acid in butter, which Dr. Peat does recommend.

Peat recommends butter over any PUFA oils. But he doesn't generally recommend large quantities.
Butter is apparently 3-4% butyric acid.
I have no idea how much is produced in the average human gut from the average 100g of potatoes or rice.

 

[CoolTweetPete]

@tara

Right, I should have added that caveat. There is a good portion of MUFA in butter, and some PUFA as well. Probably why he recommends coconut oil most as it is highly saturated.

 

[tyler]

I think if you wanted to go the resistant starch route, the safest would be to boil potatoes and cool them in the fridge overnight. The idea of implementing resistant starch is intriguing, however I think there cooked and cooled potatoes/rice would be the safest way to implement it. Freetheanimal has interesting articles on the subject.

 

[tara]

Right, I should have added that caveat. There is a good portion of MUFA in butter, and some PUFA as well. Probably why he recommends coconut oil most as it is highly saturated.

I don't know how much butyric acid it takes to make a difference, so I don't know i 10 g butter a day reaches that range, or how much spuds etc it takes.

 

[Brian]

I once had really good results eating a homemade cold potato salad with olive oil and basalmic vinegar. I wonder if it can also perform a similar role as carrot salad, maybe even better. I'm going to try that again and see if it has any endotoxin reducing effects.

 

[javin]

I think if you wanted to go the resistant starch route, the safest would be to boil potatoes and cool them in the fridge overnight.

How come cool them? What's the benefit of doing that?

 

[jyb]

I don't know how much butyric acid it takes to make a difference, so I don't know i 10 g butter a day reaches that range, or how much spuds etc it takes.

In 10g butter? That's like a faint trace left on my lips after a meal not even worth licking up

 

[tara]

In 10g butter? That's like a faint trace left on my lips after a meal not even worth licking up

It's enough to fry an egg and some liver, or make a spud or three taste better. But yeah, more can be nice. :)

 

[tyler]

How come cool them? What's the benefit of doing that?

Supposedly cooling the potatoes causes them to form a starch that's resistant to digestion. Thus allowing it to be fed on by bacteria.
It's called "retrograde resistant starch" in the paleo circles. A quick google search will bring up many articles. I don't know too much about it.

 

[javin]

Supposedly cooling the potatoes causes them to form a starch that's resistant to digestion. Thus allowing it to be fed in by bacteria.
It's called "retrograde resistant starch" in the paleo circles. A quick google search will bring up many articles. I don't know too much about it.

Sounds dangerous when you put it that way. Now I can see why Peat mentions the inflammatory and cytotoxic effect that happens from the fermentation.

 

[Jayfish]

In general, Matt Stone doesn't really know what he's talking about.

I think there are more negative effects from eating a bunch of resistant starch then the positives of the butyric acid produced. I mean if raising metabolism is butyric acids main function, there are many other ways to achieve that.

Does he even explain why butyric acid is so good?

 

[javin]

Does he even explain why butyric acid is so good?

Only that it's one of the most metabolically stimulating substances there is.

 

[Jayfish]

Only that it's one of the most metabolically stimulating substances there is.

Yea... that's definitely not enough information.

I Googled around a bit and there were some convincing studies done on mice in relation to fermentation and metabolism. And of course gorillas and probably other herbivores get most of their energy from this process. But humans do not do well on a fiber heavy diet. We lack the digestive abilities to really break down fiber to anything meaningful.

 

[javin]

But humans do not do well on a fiber heavy diet. We lack the digestive abilities to really break down fiber to anything meaningful.

I figured this was the case. It sounds like it would be taxing on the body/digestive system.

 

[lindsay]

I ate a bad egg once and got food poisoning (this was a couple years ago). Stopped the symptoms using Kefir and mixing it with a little bit of raw potato starch (which you can buy in a natural market or Whole Foods - Bob's Red Mill brand) and honey. Worked super well for stopping the endotoxin issues, but that was likely more to do with the Kefir than the starch. Otherwise, I haven't had positive effects with eating starch.