A research work that has been carried out for decades by experts from the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds, in the United Kingdom, has found that eresistant starchwhich is naturally present in various foods, helps prevent a large number of hereditary cancers.
Starch is found in oatmeal for breakfast, pasta, rice, and green bananas.
The study followed a group of people with Lynch disease, a genetic condition that greatly increases the risk of developing several types of cancer, for 20 years.
This work was published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research. In the study, the participants were divided into two groups: the first was given a pill for two years, the second received a dose of resistant starch (which has the ability to resist digestion and remain intact in the intestinal tract).
At the end of the study, the analysts were able to observe, those who took starch (in a dose equivalent to eating a banana per day), were more likely to be cancer-free nearly 20 years later.
The risk reduction was more than 60 percent and had a more noticeable effect on the upper part of the intestine.
John Mathers, Professor of Nutrition at Newcastle University, said in a press release: “This is important because cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract are difficult to diagnose and often go undetected early.”
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Although they acknowledge that more research is needed, the scientists theorize that regular consumption of resistant starch, which feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut, may actually change the bacterial metabolism of bile acids that can damage our DNA and eventually cause cancer.
