Digestion of Carbohydrate from White Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in Healthy Humans

Manuscript received 14 July 1997. Initial reviews completed 19 September 1997. Revision accepted 2 February 1998.

Lionel Noah^*, Fabienne Guillon^*, Brigitte Bouchet^*, Alain Buléon^*, Christine Molis, Maria Gratas^*, and Martine Champ^*,

^* Laboratoire de Technologie Appliquée à la Nutrition, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, BP 71627, 44316 Nantes Cédex 03, France and  Explorations Fonctionnelles Digestives, Hôpital Laënnec, BP 1005, 44035 Nantes Cédex 01, France

Resistant starch (RS) is thought to be present in large amounts in legume seeds; however, it has never been quantified in healthy humans. RS from cooked (atmospheric pressure) white beans was quantified in humans and pigs, and characterized to explain its low digestibility. Six human volunteers were intubated to collect ileal digesta after an experimental meal composed of orange juice, butter and 167 g beans (dry matter basis). The reliability of the intubation method was examined in a pig study in which it was compared with another collection method, ileal cannulation. Chemical analyses, microscopy and size exclusion chromatography were performed on human and pig digesta. The pig study showed that the intubation method may underestimate the quantity of RS. However, no chemical/physical difference was observed between the RS collected by the two techniques. In the human study, 16.5 ± 1.3% (11.3 g) of the ingested starch was recovered as RS. The microscopy of the digesta showed that part of the RS was enclosed in the cell walls. Although the RS was composed mainly of -glucan molecules with a degree of polymerization (DP) 40 to 60, oligosaccharides and large molecules of DP > 400 were also present. Retrogradation was not found to be the main factor responsible for starch malabsorption. We conclude that white beans may contain a large amount of RS formed mainly by partially degraded molecules protected by the cell walls during their transit through the gut.

The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 6 June 1998, pp. 977-985
Copyright ©1998 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

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