A trial in people with a high hereditary risk of a range of cancers has shown a major preventative effect from resistant starch – found in foods such as oats, cereal, beans and slightly green bananas.
The international study looked at almost 1,000 patients with Lynch syndrome – a genetic condition which leads people to be predisposed to a range of cancers, and for which around one in 300 people are a carrier.
It showed that a regular dose of resistant starch, also known as fermentable fibre, taken for an average of two years, did not affect cancers in the bowel but did reduce cancers in other parts of the body by more than half.
