Lynch Syndrome is a hereditary condition that puts individuals at a huge range of cancers including colorectal, uterine, esophageal, hepatobiliary, etc. In an international trial known as CAPP2 of close to 1000 participants published in journal Cancer Prevention Research, showed that resistant starch supplements was met huge cancer preventative effects.
The study was a double-blind study with a 10 year follow-up, supplemented with a comprehensive national cancer registry data for 20 years in about 370 of the participants. Participants were split into four groups: starch supplement and aspirin, aspirin and placebo, starch supplement and placebo, and placebo and placebo. Another goal of this study is explore the benefits of aspirin on cancer prevention as well.
“We found that resistant starch reduces a range of cancers by over 60%. The effect was most obvious in the upper part of the gut,” said author, John Mathers.
“Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that isn’t digested in your small intestine, instead it ferments in your large intestine, feeding beneficial gut bacteria — it acts in effect, like dietary fibre in your digestive system. This type of starch has several health benefits and fewer calories than regular starch. We think that resistant starch may reduce cancer development by changing the bacterial metabolism of bile acids and to reduce those types of bile acids that can damage our DNA and eventually cause cancer. However, this needs further research,” he further explained.
Resistant starch is one the many beneficial nutrition that can be found on a whole-food plant-based diet as it is found in potatoes, oats, legumes, and certain fruits such as unripe bananas.
This study further provides evidence that people need to switch to a whole food plant-based diet and removed animal products out of their diet as well as the fact that “genetics” simply is not a good excuse to not change one’s habit and that a good, healthy-lifestyle is unequivocal.
JC Mathers et al. Cancer Prevention with Resistant Starch in Lynch Syndrome Patients in the CAPP2-Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial: Planned 10-Year Follow-up. Cancer Prevention Research (2022) DOI: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-22-0044
