Different types of resistant starch

There are five types of resistant starch, each found in different foods—and each with different health benefits. “Not all resistant starches are created equal,” Patterson says.

Type 1 resistant starch is found in grains (such as quinoa and brown rice), seeds, beans, and some legumes, whereas type 2 resistant starch is present in green (unripe) bananas, raw potatoes, some legumes, and high amylose corn starch. Research suggests that consuming types 1 and 2, in particular, have positive effects on someone’s blood sugar response, insulin resistance, bowel function, and inflammatory markers.

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Type 3 resistant starch is found in cooked and cooled potatoes, rice, pasta, and oats. The process of “cooking and cooling these starchy foods creates more resistant starch,” explains Camire. This is an instance where the more resistant starch a food contains, the healthier it is for you.

In a study in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers compared the amount of resistant starch in freshly cooked white rice, cooked white rice that had been cooled for 10 hours, and cooked white rice that had been cooled and refrigerated for 24 hours then reheated: They found that the resistant starch content in the cooked-cooled-and-reheated rice was more than two and a half times higher than in the freshly cooked rice—and that consuming the reheated rice sparked a lower blood sugar response compared to the freshly cooked rice.