It’s complicated: Low-calorie claims are still unproven, but some positive effects on blood sugar have been noted.
Chilling cooked foods such as rice triggers “retrogradation,” a process that converts easily digested starch back into resistant starch. That makes it take longer to digest, thus moderating blood-sugar spikes.
Online influencers claim the secret to low-calorie rice, pasta and potatoes may be as simple as chilling out. Are they right? Not quite. But a small yet solid body of science does suggest that chilling these carbohydrate-rich foods after cooking them still could help people slim down. For several years, wellness and nutrition influencers have promoted a process called retrogradation, urging people to cook, chill, then reheat carbohydrate-rich foods. They say doing so can cut the calories.Most raw carbohydrates, such as uncooked potatoes, mostly contain the hard-to-digest starch, but cooking converts it into the easily digested one. This is why diabetics need to be mindful when eating starchy foods, much to the chagrin of mashed-potato fans. Most of the carbohydrates in these foods — as well as most of the calories — come from starch, of which there are two types: hard-to-digest amylose and easily digested amylopectin. The latter is processed quickly and spikes blood sugar. The former is processed slowly and moderates blood sugar. Most raw carbohydrates are made mostly of the hard-to-digest starch , but cooking converts it into the easily digested one. This is why diabetics need to be mindful when eating starchy foods. Here’s where the influencers get excited. Chilling those cooked foods triggers “retrogradation,” a process that converts easily digested starch back into resistant starch, making it harder to digest even if the food is then reheated. ‘The status quo isn’t acceptable’: How a San Diego lawmaker aims to help the hardest-to-reach people with mental illnessRising health costs push some middle-aged adults to skip the doctor until MedicareStudies of how retrogradation influences diet mostly have been small and focused on how consumption of resistant starches influences blood sugar, particularly for diabetics. Multiple studies since 2015 have found that people who ate rice that was cooked and then cooled had sometimes significantly lower blood glucose levels after eating compared with people who ate freshly cooked rice. Those findings are generally well-accepted.Kind of, says Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. “It doesn’t appreciably change the calorie content of that food,” he explained. “ it may well affect your hormones and metabolism in a way that makes controlling calories a lot easier.” Though retrogradation’s effects on calories is neither as direct nor as dramatic as some suggest, it nonetheless has promise as part of healthier eating, Ludwig said.Eating foods high in resistant starch reduces the surge in blood sugar typically seen after consuming cooked carbohydrates, he explained. And that’s key not only for diabetics. Studies have shown that those sugar spikes activate the brain’s reward mechanism and trigger cravings, making overeating at snacks and later meals more likely. Also, those blood sugar surges increase the body’s production of insulin, which not only makes us feel hungry, but prompts the body’s metabolism to store more calories as fat, Ludwig said. “When the food retrogrades, it digests more slowly,” he said. “It’s going to keep your blood sugar more stable. You’ll have less insulin to drive fat storage and likely have an easier time avoiding overeating.”If you eat a diet high in refined starches, chilling can technically mitigate some of their negative impacts. But Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, says that to be effective, it would have to be done consistently, and he questions whether that’s practical for most people. It also isn’t plug-and-play simple. Retrogradation works better with some grain varieties than others. Some food manufacturers favor varieties of rice, for example, that are naturally low in resistant starch because they cook more quickly. But this information rarely is available to the consumer, so it’s hard to know when chilling makes a difference.“Chilling does not restore the losses of fiber, minerals and vitamins that have been removed in the refining process,” he said. ‘Character of our community is diminished.’ Borrego Springs group asks for short-term rental regulations‘We don’t have enough food’: Providers brace for thousands of San Diegans to lose SNAP benefits Its schools are falling apart, and voters won’t pass a bond. Could a little-used tactic help this district?A little-known Navy-Marine battle group from San Diego is making a beeline for the Middle EastSantee fire that prompted evacuations at shopping center charred 5 acres
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