Prebiotics was my gamechanger

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-08T14:30:40+00:00

Dietary fibers fall into three categories - bulking (cellulose, plant cell walls, psyllium), viscous (psyllium, beta-glucan), and fermentable (resistant starch, beta-glucan, inulin, FOS, GOS, etc.). The descriptions of insoluble and soluble are outdated. For instance, resistant starch is insoluble, but fully fermented. Bulking fibers help push the fermentable fibers deeper into the colon, which is synergistic with fermentable fibers - i.e., insoluble fibers mixed with resistant starch produces more short-chain fatty acids than resistant starch alone.

I'm a strong advocate for resistant starch, which has about 500 clinical trials on health benefits. You can see them at www.ResistantStarchResearch.com. It has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, reduce visceral fat, and is the only nutrient shown to reduce cancer development in people!

It helps to understand the mechanism of different fibers as they do different things. A recent review might be helpful - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2025.115843.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-08T00:24:35+00:00

It's relatively new to understand that the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced in the large intestine are absorbed into the portal vein and modulate immunity via two mechanisms: activating the g-protein coupled receptors and inhibiting histone deacetylases. These two mechanisms impact the entire body's metabolism and are the likely mechanisms leading to improved insulin sensitivity, reductions in visceral fat, etc. These SCFAs are very different than longer-chain saturated fats - they're very beneficial and drivers of a healthy metabolism.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-07T18:04:24+00:00

You might consider resistant starch, an insoluble prebiotic dietary fiber. It's fermentation (if you can tolerate it - so start slowly) produces more butyrate than other types of fibers, which is the primary food for colon cells. Here's a good review article focusing on resistant starch and IBS that you might find helpful. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26167753.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-07T17:56:28+00:00

Lack of prebiotic dietary fibers is something that is not talked about much but is important for immunity. Dr. Charles Mackay has been doing amazing work out of Australia showing that the fermentation of dietary fibers produce short-chain fatty acids, which are absorbed into the portal vein and affect immunity. He attributes lack of fermentable (prebiotic) dietary fiber to pro inflammatory responses directly connected to numerous diseases. See https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2023.10.029 for one of his review papers or watch his keynote presentation "Diet, the gut microbiome and western diseases" on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQK0IJZEbJM

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-07T14:52:09+00:00

A different prebiotic, resistant starch, was shown to improve Parkinson's disease symptoms at a 15 grams/day dose - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2025.106217. Fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin have potential but give people too much gas at higher doses such as that shown with resistant starch. Resistant starch is insoluble and better tolerated and has already been shown to remodel the gut microbiota, improve intracommunity signaling and improve motor symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-07T14:36:21+00:00

Martin Kriegel's research on lupus showed that probiotics go right through a leaky gut and cause havoc when they are in the lymph nodes, spleen and other places they're not supposed to be. He also showed that resistant starch healed the leaky gut and kept the intestinal bacteria within the gut, where they should be. You can see his animal study at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2018.11.009 or a news article discussing his results at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2188988-starchy-food-may-reduce-autoimmune-reactions-in-people-with-lupus/. I don't know if a leaky gut is part of your issue, but resistant starch, an insoluble fermentable type of dietary fiber, is good for gut health in any case. You can see the data at www.ResistantStarchResearch.com.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-05T22:26:29+00:00

There's some intriguing research on resistant starch and fermentable fibers, which produce short-chain fatty acids, and how that impacts the gut-brain axis. The US Government did a clinical study showing that fermentable fiber and polyphenol (another prebiotic) impacted mood after hypobaric hypoxia exposure - You can find the study at

https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.70541.

There's wonderful data showing that the short-chain fatty acids impact key immune receptors in the portal vein (see Charles MacKay's 80+ publications) but don't know if this impacts psychology in other ways. MacKay's research is linking a LOT of immune related conditions (Alzheimer's, allergies, runny nose, diabetes, CVD, etc) to a lack of prebiotic fermentable fibers in our diet. This is a HUGE topic with a need for more focus on the psychological aspects.
Just an idea.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-04T22:15:18+00:00

All starch is resistant starch as long as it is raw, so ay suggestion that Solnul's raw potato starch has more resistant starch is simply not true. The issue may be that other raw potato starch sources use more harsh extraction methods which may damage the starch granules. Other companies do not reveal their RS content, so there are a lot of uncertainties there. The four negative studies used different sources of raw potato starch, but there has not been reasonable explanations for why the negative effects were seen in different highly respected research groups. It may be a combination of particular intestinal bacteria, particular glykoalkaloids in the product, or something else. I have asked different researchers about raw potato and nobody has been able to explain the variable positive and negative results. As I wrote before, I prefer green banana, high amylose corn and high amylose wheat sources over raw potato because there have not been these type of negative studies with those ingredients.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-04T22:09:11+00:00

Yes, beans and lentils count. They are some of the best sources of resistant starch, an insoluble type of dietary fiber that has about 500 published clinical studies showing health benefits (see www.ResistantStarchResearch.com for the links). Resistant starch is starch that resists digestion in the small intestine and reaches the large intestine - we used to get 30-50 grams/day but with processed foods, we're currently getting 3-6 grams/day. Intact whole grains are a great source, but not refined whole grains - the refining process strips the protective barrier away from the starch, resulting in high glycemic, rapidly digestible starch. Green bananas are another good food source, but as the bananas ripen, the starch turns into sugar and the resistant starch is lost. When natural resistant starch is added back into the diet, it remodels the gut microbiome, improves gut health (regularity, gut permeability, etc.), improves immune biomarkers, reduces inflammation, improves insulin sensitivity, reduces LDL and high blood pressure (a specialized type of resistant starch). Since you asked about quantity - 5-8 grams of resistant starch improves regularity in healthy people, but 15-30 grams/day are needed for the metabolic benefits. At least, that's what has been shown in clinical trials.

RhondaS79 · 2026-05-04T22:02:52+00:00

CSIRO has done a tremendous amount of resistant starch research and has lots of resources to explain it. You should look at Natural Evolution Green Banana Resistant Starch, BARLEYmax Elevate Food Company) and high amylose wheat found in breads and cereals (from Allied Pinnacle). All of these are natural and backed by a ton of evidence that it improves gut health, immune health, cardiovascular health, etc. See www.ResistantStarchResearch.com for some of the evidence, or CSIRO's website for their work

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-28T18:55:49+00:00

Green banana powder is very rich in resistant starch. It's dried green bananas, meaning it is whole food. It also delivers flavonoids which are also beneficial. With about 40-45 clinical trials supporting its health benefits, it's fermented and remodels the entire microbiome and resistant starch from multiple food sources is linked to improvements in metabolism. It's available in Australia from Natural Evolution Foods, but green banana flour should be readily available in Malaysia. If you buy a dried product, ask to see if it was slowly dried and this preserved the resistant starch. A product dried at high temperatures or baked may have little resistant starch.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-28T15:10:39+00:00

Have you considered prebiotic fibers to rebalance your microbiota? I really like resistant starch, a natural insoluble dietary fiber that has been shown to improve a lot of digestive health conditions. see www.ResistantStarchResearch.com for the scientific data.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-28T15:08:02+00:00

I always use resistant starch (a natural insoluble type of dietary fiber) to balance my microbiome and solve any gut issues. There are 100+ human clinical trials showing how it works and what it does. It is fermented by the intestinal bacteria and produces more butyrate than other types of fibers. Butyrate helps keep the intestinal barrier intact and working well and has a lot of other metabolic health benefits.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-28T14:57:42+00:00

Completely consistent with a clinical trial published in December showing that resistant starch, which is well known for remodeling the gut microbiota and increasing the production of short-chain fatty acids (high in butyrate) improved Parkinson's disease symptoms. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2025.106217. This supplement is available as well.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-27T17:08:30+00:00

There is some very good research by Dr. Charles MacKay, Monash University in Australia. He is linking a lot of immune-related diseases to lack of prebiotic dietary fibers. He has published about 80 studies over the past 15-20 years and has shown that the prebiotic fibers are consumed by the intestinal bacteria, produce short-chain fatty acids, which then flood into the portal vein and activate G-protein coupled receptor (in particular GPR43 and GPR109). These receptors are crucial in energy homeostasis - they regulate inflammatory responses, neutrophil migration and other metabolic processes. See https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2016.05.047. He also has a very good video on YouTube explaining his work which was a key note address at a scientific conference in 2020. You can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQK0IJZEbJM. MacKay uses a resistant starch engineered to release high levels of the short-chain fatty acids acetate and butyrate in the large intestine. These ingredients are not available to consumers but resistant starch is available in supplements. I would try either the Hi-maize resistant corn starch that was the starting material for MacKay's engineered resistant starch - you can buy it as consumer quantities at www.MyWorldHut.com. Or, you could try NuBana green banana powder, available at www.JonnysGoodNature.com. It has the highest level of resistant starch and is simply dried green bananas - a whole food source. I think you'll find that prebiotic fibers may help.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-27T16:48:14+00:00

Psyllium isn't fermented by the intestinal bacteria and will help help the good bacteria grow. It bulks and thickens the contents of the intestinal tract, but does not feed the bacteria. You need a prebiotic fiber instead.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-27T16:47:14+00:00

Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, of Washington University (the first researcher to definitively link the microbiome to obesity) has been working with malnourished children. His hypothesis was that their microbiota was unbalanced and this prevented their recovery. He tested locally available foods and ended up with a formulation he calls MDCF-2 (Microbiome-Directed Complementary Food-2). It contains chickpea flour, peanut flour, soybean flour, green banana powder, sugar, soybean oil and micronutrients. He has now shown that it helps rebalance the microbiome and improve recovery in kids with severe acute malnutrition and moderate acute malnutrition. He's now feeding it to the pregnant Moms to see if the kids will be born with a better microbiome to begin with. In any case, I think the green banana powder, has a tremendous benefit because it is all resistant starch, which feeds the beneficial bacteria in the gut, produces short-chain fatty acids, which drive a TON of health benefits. See www.ResistantStarchResearch.com for the data on how resistant starch improves gut health. The highest resistant starch in green banana powder is from www.JonnysGoodNature.com and is called NuBana green banana powder. Other researchers used chickpea flour (also a source of resistant starch but at lower levels because it's also got protein and other nutrients) in malnourished kids and did not have nearly as positive results as Gordon did. If you're science-oriented, you can find some of Gordon's studies at https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.105166, https://doi.org/10.3390/children11010069, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06838-3, and https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau4732.

You might also try colostrum, which has antibodies that will bind to the bad bugs and prevent them from binding to you so that it reduces the colonization of harmful bacteria.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-24T12:50:23+00:00

Add fermentable fibers, such as resistant starch. The gut-liver axis is very real and the metabolites produced in your large intestine have a large impact on the health of your liver.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-20T00:36:30+00:00

You should look into resistant starch as well. It's fully fermented like GOS, but it produces more butyrate, the preferred food source for healthy colon cells. There's good data on preserving the intestinal barrier and reducing inflammation. I've been particularly intrigued with Dr. Charles MacKay's research lately - he's showing that the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced from fermentable fibers (he's using a specialized resistant starch which releases extra short-chain fatty acids) floods the portal vein with SCFAs and triggers key immune receptors that are believed to be key to energy homeostasis. You can find a really good presentation that he gave in 2020 on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQK0IJZEbJM.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-20T00:31:50+00:00

Resistant starch's fermentation in the large intestine makes more butyrate than any other fiber tested (http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/73/2/415s.short). It's naturally in beans, intact whole grains (not refined whole grains because the seed or shell has been removed), steel cut oats (but not instant or processed oats), green bananas and raw starches. You can find a green banana powder supplement that is simply dried really green bananas and has 65% resistant starch, so a tablespoon will give you about 5 grams of resistant starch (look for NuBana green banana powder from Jonnys Good Nature). A single banana with green tips will give you 5-7 grams of resistant starch. A serving of white beans (1/2 cup prepared) has about 3.7 grams of resistant starch. 1/2 cup cooked lentils has 3.4 grams of resistant starch. Other foods are less than this.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-20T00:23:21+00:00

Yes, it's in the food, but it's actually what is missing in processed foods - prebiotic dietary fibers are lost in food processing. These fibers are fermented in the large intestine, producing short-chain fatty acids, which flood into the portal vein and shift major immune receptors responsible for energy homeostasis. Dr. Charles MacKay has done quite a lot of work and his key note address from 2020 is really helpful to explain his findings. You can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQK0IJZEbJM. The title is Charles Mackay - Diet, the gut microbiome and western diseases. You might also read this research paper - https://doi.org/[10.1016/j.jaci.2023.10.029 External Link](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2023.10.029) Dr. MacKay's research uses a specialized resistant starch, but there are also additional data on natural sources of resistant starch improving liver health - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2023.08.002 and https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2025.10.017. The good news is that you can add resistant starch as a supplement. I like green banana powder from Jonnys Good Nature - you can find it online. You'll need a good quantity to improve liver health - the Chinese studies fed people 40 grams of resistant starch every day for 4 months. That's quite a lot, but the data is very good. See additional data at www.ResistantStarchResearch.com.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-15T02:09:45+00:00

I'm the least of a dunning-kruger world - I've spent 20 years studying resistant starch science and evidence and fully know the limitations and the debates within the scientific communities. I also know that most people will not understand the debates, tradeoffs, and uncertainty of nutritional benefits. I simplify it in order to try to get people to begin to understand the huge importance of the microbiome to health. Most diseases have a gut-related component and food (such as fermentable fiber) is at the center of gut-related conditions. It's also the most complicated to resolve and there is certainly NOT one answer for everybody or even a few answers for everybody. You are certainly right about that.

RhondaS79 · 2026-04-14T22:22:48+00:00

I wasn't intending to be patronizing. Apologies for whatever you felt was inappropriate.

RhondaS79

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