Efficiency of Resistant Starch and Dextrins as Prebiotics: A Review of the Existing Evidence and Clinical Trials

Abstract

In well-developed countries, people have started to pay additional attention to preserving healthy dietary habits, as it has become common knowledge that neglecting them may easily lead to severe health impairments, namely obesity, malnutrition, several cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes, cancers, hypertensions, and inflammations. Various types of functional foods were developed that are enriched with vitamins, probiotics, prebiotics, and dietary fibers in order to develop a healthy balanced diet and to improve the general health of consumers. Numerous kinds of fiber are easily found in nature, but they often have a noticeable undesired impact on the sensory features of foods or on the digestive system. This led to development of modified dietary fibers, which have little to no impact on taste of foods they are added to. At the same time, they possess all the benefits similar to those of prebiotics, such as regulating gastrointestinal microbiota composition, increasing satiety, and improving the metabolic parameters of a human. In the following review, the evidence supporting prebiotic properties of modified starches, particularly resistant starches and their derivatives, resistant dextrins, was assessed and deliberated, which allowed drawing an interesting conclusion on the subject.

Diet Supplementation with NUTRIOSE, a Resistant Dextrin, Increases the Abundance of Parabacteroides distasonis in the Human Gut

“…[14] In a recent review, resistant starch and resistant dextrins (RD) were proven to have positive effects of body mass index (BMI), total body fat, and markers of metabolic disorders in healthy volunteers. [15] However, not all individuals respond to prebiotics in the same ways. Baseline composition of the gut microbiota is often found to be one of the factors explaining response differences within study-groups.…”

“…[ 14 ] In a recent review, resistant starch and resistant dextrins (RD) were proven to have positive effects of body mass index (BMI), total body fat, and markers of metabolic disorders in healthy volunteers. [ 15 ]…”

The Promising Role of Microbiome Therapy on Biomarkers of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic and Narrative Review

“…In our review, although we have highlighted the promise offered by a variety of prebiotic supplementations, resistant dextrin has been shown to be the most widely effective in both categories of markers ( 147 , 149 , 152 , 153 ). Resistant dextrins are non-sweet short-chain glucose polymers with high resistance to digestive enzymes of the human gut, up to 75% of which is available for fermentation ( 172 , 190 ). Ślizewska et al have shown that resistant dextrin supplementation among mice was associated with lower levels of Clostridium strain ( 191 ), which is found in elevated levels among diabetics compared to normal gut ( 192 ).…”

Resistant Starch as a Dietary Intervention to Limit the Progression of Diabetic Kidney Disease

“…Fermentable fibres can be fermented by specific commensal bacteria of the colon which promotes the maintenance of a healthy intestinal environment and microbiome community. Each fermentable fibre is associated with differing metabolic responses and physiological effect, as the location, speed and type of bacteria involved in the fermentation process varies between fibre type [ 79 , 82 ]. Whilst most fibres tend to be associated with one functional class, they often exert more than one effect, which may be beyond the three classes described.…”