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Occasionally, I have alluded to a product I use to improve my athletic performance. This product, derived from corn starch, is called Superstarch and is produced by Generation UCAN. Many of you have asked a lot of questions about it, and so at last I’d like to take the time to really explain this technology to you.
If you’ve been reading this blog at all, you probably already know one thing about me: I don’t do bumper stickers. I tend to leave that to the really smart folks who can take complex topics and turn them into slogans. Instead, I tend to like the nuanced explanations. In keeping with that spirit, I decided to create a presentation to formally introduce you to Superstarch.
In reality, if you want to understand why you’re better off consuming Superstarch instead of Gatorade, Powerade, goo, gel, or other “sports nutrition” products out there, you need to know how they work. I know, I know, most people don’t want to understand this sort of stuff. And they certainly don’t want to read a 10,000 word post on the topic. But if you really want to understand the remarkable evolution in sports nutrition, you sort of have to understand the whole evolution of these products, which is why I put this video together.
Jeff Volek introduced me to Superstarch. After using it for a few months, and being completely blown away by it, I wanted to know more. I was introduced to the co-founder, Peter Kaufman, and soon I was poring over their patents in an effort to understand how in the heck they made this stuff. Once I understood this, I never looked back. Today I simply refer to Superstarch as “superior technology.” If Superstarch is the latest iPhone, all other sports nutrition products are rotary phones. They simply don’t belong in the same sentence.
But to understand why I would make such a strong statement, you should not just take my word for it. In Part I of this post (i.e., the video, below) I’ll walk you through the nuances of how our bodies use stored energy (i.e., food and internal stored sources) to generate motion (and life, actually). Once you understand the basics I’ll explain why Superstarch is a step-function improvement over all existing products.
In Part II, I will share an interview with one of the most prolific trainers of professional athletes, who has not only transformed his training with Superstarch, but also that of some of the highest profile athletes in the country.
In the end I believe you’ll come to appreciate that this technology, while originally developed to save the lives of children with a very rare genetic disorder, is going to revolutionize sports nutrition as we know it.
The link to this video can also be found here, for those reading this post on email or those wishing to view it in a larger format.
Sorry for my mis-spelling. Of course “polysaccharide” (with an “h”) refers to the glossary.
On sports drinks:
Food/drink works at the ultra-marathon class event. A school I worked at had 50 mile snowshoe races. (Gr. 10-12) About every 5 miles the kids (and me) could choose from water, dilute juice, bread + honey sandwiches, bananas and oranges. I worked on a basis of 1 sandwich per 6 miles.
BUT
This is stuff done at barely an aerobic rate. E.g. Typical winning times for the race was 11.5-14 hours, depending on snow conditions.
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Consider if you mixed super-starch half and half with ordinary flour. (Would require much filddling with recipes.)
Now that danish you got with your coffee that caused the glucose spike, and insulin spike, would become a smaller spike, followed by a much smaller crash. Is this a possible action?
Doing this enmasse would require inexpensive sources of super starch.
Hi Peter, I have listened to your podcast interviews many times over and have been experimenting with a high fat gel made of cocoa butter/powder and coconut oil with vanilla and stevia added for taste. In constant small amounts this mixture is safe for the stomach and can sustain me on a long run easily. Do you think using UCAN in combination with this high fat mixture offers a beneficial advantage? I have only so far used the protein UCAN for recovery after a long day.
The benefit of SS in this setting since, I assume, your RQ is already quite low is that it provides substrate to the glycolitic pathway without compromising your beta oxidative pathway. So depending on you activity, this could be helpful.
Do you know of any studies currently being conducted with T1D and superstarch?
I understand that Generation UCAN cannot make direct recommendations for the treatment of diabetes. At the same time, it would seem appropriate for them to promote some diabetic athletes — individuals who could safely tell their stories about using the product.
I’m a newbie to your blog. I personally hate the similarity of the names T1D and T2D. They are very different diseases — especially when pre-diabetic (precisely, pre-T2-diabetic) is injected into the conversation.
I believe they are looking very closely into this. Agree with you completely about the nomenclature. The diseases have almost nothing in common — one is autoimmune, the other is a disease of insulin resistance.
Hi Peter, fantastic presentation, many thanks for making it public. I’ve recently started Superstarch with very positive results but my coach remains skeptical. He watched the video and sent me this message, I’ll paste it verbatim, any thoughts?
He makes a dramatic omission around minute 20 that dogs the rest of the presentation. When you are doing hard endurance exercise, your muscles can take up glucose as fast as your gut can absorb it. There’s no glucose spike and no insulin spike when glucose is consumed while exercising HARD. At 80% of maximum heart rate, there is a mild insulin response after glucose consumption. Much less than at rest, but some. If he was right, there’d be no way people could do 8-hour rides on GU or Cytomax without bonking, but they do.
The studies at minute 46 and 49 are irrelevant to during-exercise feeding (see above). If the take home message is that superstarch is better than glucose for the pre-ride meal, that would be correct. If it suggests superstarch is better than glucose during exercise, that would be an unjustified conclusion. A preride meal of any low-glycmic carbohydrate source would be equally good. If you prefer superstarch to brown rice, lentils, rolled oats and so on, use it. It is good, but it’s not magically different than other things you could eat.
We’ve known for at least 15 years that pre-exercise consumption of high-glycemic foods suppresses fat metabolism during exercise. That’s why I advise saving the athletic energy products until you are well along in the warm up rather than using them as pre-race snacks.
He makes an observation and unsubstantiated assertion about it’s meaning around minute 28. He notes that the power he produces at the 50% fat-50% carb fuel source transition increased from 125W to 275 and asserts it was because of dietary changes. That would also be the expected response to a good aerobic training program, so unless he had been training for a few years and didn’t change his training at all when he changed his diet, we don’t know if he’s right in the attribution of cause.
The issue is one of glycogen sparing. SS offers no advantage in exercise over glucose on a per carbon basis, of course. The point is 1) it’s easier to ingest because of the osmotic effect, and 2) its use spares glycogen by lowering RQ, so you need LESS glucose for the same exertion. Metabolic flexibility is the issue. To your coach’s point at the end, there was no change in training. This difference was dietary (in my case).
I have a question about using SuperStarch Generation UCAN in conjunction with Whey Gold Standard nutritional supplement. The trainer my 16 year old daughter is working with has suggested rouse these two products together before and after workouts. My concern is using both these products together. My daughter is trying to loose weight but I am concerned about ingesting too many supplements to support her objectives.
I’m not familiar with that particular protein, though it’s reasonable to consume up to about 20 gm of protein immediately post workout.
Hi Peter, I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond to my coach’s questioning. I’ve no idea how you find the time to respond to all these questions but I’m very glad you do. SS is a game changing product for me and I never would have discovered it without the fantastic content you post here. Keep up the good work.
I’m so happy to hear that, Christopher. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, Peter – Wanted to talk with you about SuperStarch if you have a moment. We were discussing Resistant Starches at Free the Animal and your name came up.
Do you know if this SuperStarch is the same as Generation UCan’s SuperStarch? https://www.dfepharma.com/en/Excipients/Starch/Partly-pregelatinised-maize-starch.aspx#tab-overview Seems strange they could share a trademarked name.
Anyway, it doesn’t really matter. What I’m curious about is if you’ve looked into using Hi-Maize Resistant Corn Starch or even just plain old potato starch in the same way you use SuperStarch.
We’re finding that the Hi-Maize and Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch are 50-80% Resistant Starch with no glycemic load. Our interest in RS isn’t performance, but glucose control, cholesterol and lipid metabolism, weight loss, and gut microflora support.
We’ve found that it takes about 30-50g/day of an RS to garner the full benefits. Do you know the approximate RS content of SuperStarch?
Thanks!
The link you’ve provided is a different company/product than that of Generation UCAN. Unless they are infringing on UCAN’s intellectual property for hydrothermal treatment, their product is therefore different. As far as RS, I do not know how much, if any, RS is in UCAN’s product, but it would definitely be worth asking them directly. It is worth noting, however, that one thing that separates UCAN’s product from other variants is the following feature pairing:
1. It is very slowly broken down, *but*
2. Is is fully absorbed.
This is important for 2 reasons. There are many products that meet condition #1 (but not #2) — RS is a great example in the most extreme state; conversely, most glucose loads meet #2 (but not #1). The former is problematic for performance (or Glycogen Storage Disease, which is what UCAN’s product was developed for) because the athlete (or patient) can’t actually access the glucose they need and the purpose of supplemental glucose is defeated. The latter is problematic for all the reasons we know pertaining to glycemic control, osmolarity, osmolality, and impact on lipolysis.
So…without really answering your question, hopefully I’ve addressed the confusion…a RS is not really what an athlete wants (or someone with GSD wants) because they actually do need the glucose — the key is giving it to them slowly and in a completely sustained release pattern.
Your explanation was great! I can see why you were as excited about SuperStarch as I was about resistant starch.
Corn starch contains two types of molecules of interest here; amylose and amylopectin. The brand Hi-Maize is starch from specially bred corn very high in amylose. It is treated somehow with hot water to make the amylose stable at baking temperatures.
If one eats Hi-Maize (or potato starch) by itself, there is zero glucose spike. Somehow the Generation UCan folks figured out how to make it so their product doesn’t completely resist digestion. The fact that it doesn’t spike blood sugar tells me it contains a good bit of uncooked amylose (a resistant starch), making it an awesome prebiotic. Thanks for bringing this product to our attention!
In the optic of using RS for prebiotic purposes, we have found that adding 3-4TBS a day of Hi-Maize or potato starch to a smoothie, milk, or other cold food gives one the optimal amount, based on much research, to grow the beneficial gut microbes found in probiotics. Sounds weird, but lots of research done on this out there!
Thanks again.
The UCAN process begins with select WM that is specifically chosen because of its proportion of amylopectin, typically north of 97%, and ideally north of 99%. This ensure the digestibility aspect, but says nothing of the slow release. The slow release properties are “created” by the hydrothermal process described in their patents. So a high amylopectin:amylose ratio in WM will ensure digestibility, but doesn’t portent a statement about GI/GL. Sounds like the RS properties you mention are optimizing for something slightly different.
This is a copy of a note that I sent to UCAN I hope that it helps someone, by the way thanks to you, I decided to trial it!
A history of Food Intolerances and Swimming
My grandson, Nat, had difficulties with a variety of foods from an early age.
Never the less he was always very energetic and from an early age took to
swimming like a duck to water. At the age of 6 he also became involved in
Rugby. At both sports he excelled.
At the age of 8 he joined a local swimming club and was quickly moved on to
an associated elite club, located some 22 miles away from our home.
By the age of 9 he was one of the top swimmers in the country in his age
group. For a number of reasons, we took the decision to move him to another
club when he was 10, where he continued to flourish.
However about 6 month after moving clubs he went into to full flush of
puberty, rather early but the medical advice was to let it ride.
From that time on his intolerances seemed to intensify, with food flushing
through him at such a rate that toilet visits were in excess of 10 a day, and up
to 17 times on a bad day. We used to joke that it was his best friend!
We sought medical help, but were told his problems were simply IBS and he
had to learn to live with it. We sought to isolate the aggravating foods and
eliminated eggs, dairy and cereals, which reduced the level of issue but did not
completely resolve it.
His swimming generally improved, however he had a stamina issue that
showed up when swimming in 50 metre pools, in 25 metre pools he was
almost untouchable, in the longer pool although very good, he was not
amongst the top handful in the region.
When swimming in training or competition he was known for giving
everything, to the extent that he could struggle to get out the pool or throwing
up.
When he was 12 we moved him to his current elite club. After about three
months there was an incident in a land training session, when he collapsed and
was taken to hospital by ambulance to be checked. They found nothing wrong
and he was released much later that evening.
In the same year, at the County Championships at the end of a 400 im race,
which he easily won, he collapsed , I thought, as I generally did, that he was
hyperglycemic and gave him sugary drinks and sweets. He appeared to be fully
revived after about half an hour. Because of this his doctor insisted that he
took no further part in the championship (which finally won the overall
championship, although he had completed less than half of his events.)
There then followed several weeks of checks and tests at the hospital, as
everyone was convinced that he could have a severe heart problem. After all of
the tests etc. he was found to be OK and was allowed to continue swimming.
An interesting finding was his resting heart rate was 24/25, when awake, and
could peak out at 220+ under extreme stress, which illustrates his fitness.
Over the next 12 months his stamina level fell and he was once again refered
to hospital where he was found to have a “complex series of food
intolerances/allergies.” His weight had crashed, he was constantly tired and
his school work had deteriorated.
In early September 2012 all normal food was withdrawn for a period of six
weeks and he was put on Elemental 08 reinforced with Duocal, a foul
concoction which is normally taken by tube, but Nat took it orally, consuming 7
litres a day plus 2 litres of water. He kept swimming, but his performance
was, for him, poor.
I ought to say, his coach has been and continues to be very supportive and is a
major factor in Nat continuing with swimming and what follows.
After 6 weeks we were told to reintroduce foods one at a time, each for three
days. If a food is tolerated he could have as much of it as he wants, whenever
he wants. If he finds that he cannot tolerate a food wait for his body to settle
down before trying the next food on the list.
Every time his body objects, Nat is ill for at least 5 days, he has diarrhoea,
stomach cramps, tiredness, sickness, lacks focus etc.
We are now nine months on and we find that he cannot tolerate: Fructose (so
he cannot eat fruit,) all cereals (no bread, cakes etc.,) dairy (including lactose
free,) eggs, nuts, all starch (so no root vegetables, potatoes and many other
foods) and pork. He experienced a lower reaction to beef and chicken.
What he can eat is lamb, turkey, fish (including shell fish,) cabbage and similar
vegetables, broccoli, brussel sprouts, glucose, sucrose (yes it does contain
fructose but the level is lower than the glucose which seems to facilitate its
acceptance.) A combination of this is used for one meal a day together with
the 7 litres of Elemental 08 with Duocal and sucrose as a supplement in the
form of Kendal Mint Cake and/or Fox’s Glazier Mints. This was the position
until Monday 29th April 2013 when we tried Superstarch.
I had read somewhere in my various periods of research a reference to
Superstarch and had, it appears, stored it away and it suddenly came to mind. I
could not remember its name or what is was but found a reference to it again, (your blog)
thanks to Google. Having located a source I ordered some and got Nat to try it
on the 29th April in his training session.
The effects were dramatic, I have not seen him train, as he did that night on a
very heavy 2½ hour session, so well for years. At the end of the session he
jumped out of the pool, full of energy and hugged me thanking me for finding
this stuff. All this benefit and no reaction, but there are two more days of
testing to do. I told his coach what we were testing. She was sceptical that it
would help.
Tuesday no reaction, other than in the pool, however it was a light session,
could this be an answer?
Wednesday, a very heavy 3 hour session, Nat flew. He set several training PBs,
including improving his 50 metre breaststroke kick time by 5 seconds. At the
end of the session he was slightly dehydrated, but bouncing. This is the
answer to our prayers!!
Nat’s observations of the effects are:
He had endless energy, when he knew that “lactose was about to kick in,” he
felt slightly odd (whatever that means) and then he had a “sugar type rush,” at
the end of the session he could easily have carried on for another hour, his
muscles were “pumped up,” but did not ache as usual and he felt so fresh that
maybe he “didn’t work hard enough,” although his “times said differently.” He
needed to increase his hydration, by about 50% but fell short on Wednesday
because of the tight turnaround times on some sections. He also says that he
“breaths deeper.”
I don’t know about the experience of others, although I have read much of
what some say, but do know that UCAN have facilitated one 15 year old, none
endurance, sportsman to be able to compete in his chosen sport on an “even
playing field or pool.” Nat should not be able to tolerate this starch, but he
can, so for others who have corn or starch intolerance, my advice is “suck it
and see.”
I would recommend anyone involved in sport, to ditch your sports drinks and
move on to this remarkable product.
I have written this because I believe others, in similar situations to Nat, should
be encouraged and enabled to strive for their dreams.
Bob Armstrong (in UK) 1st May 2013
A proud and happy grandfather
I loved hearing the info presented!! I agree this Superstarch product is the solution athletes have been needing! Thanks!!
Would you recommend SS pre-workout, peri-workout, or post workout for a heavy weight lifting session? How do you use SS for intense heavy weight workouts?
Amazing blog! I am very grateful for the time and information that you provide.
Suki
See Q&A of video in most recent post, where I answer.
Hi Dr. Attia,
Your blog and the information contained withing are amazing. My question is the same as Suki’s question and I’m not certain if the answer you gave is that you address is during the Q & A portion of the video or if there is another post. I’ve listened to the video and did not hear this addressed.
I apologize for being a PIA but this info is helpful.
Thank you!
Heidi
Peter, thanks so much for doing this website! I would like to submit the following question for you to consider addressing in a future post:
For non-diabetic people on nonketogenic diets, is exercising before breakfast a bad strategy? Does it cause loss of muscle tissue? Are there any fueling strategies (e.g, protein and/or super starch) that would make such exercise safer if it is not safe?
From the moderate amount of reading that I have done of your posts and comments, you have pretty much answer this question for people in NK. But there is much confusion in the literature over this question.
The post could discuss how blood glucose level is regulated during sleep for non-NK people. Which hormones are released to increase blood glucose during sleep if they get too low?. Is insulin released during sleep to reduce levels if those hormones release too much glucose, or do those hormones inhibit insulin release? If your fasting blood glucose is higher than your glucose level was before sleep, is your insulin level high in the morning? The post could also discuss when Gluconeogenesis occurs, and what substrates it uses.
HERE IS MY CONTEXT: 53 yr, obese white male, 6’2″, 245 lbs, 44″ waist, 48″ belly, muscular long legs, lost 55 lbs over the last year on a slow-carb diet (35% fat, 30% protein, 45% slow carbs such as yams, quinoa, Ezekiel bread, converted rice, whole gain pastas, yogurt, veggies, 2 frutis/day). 45 mins of exercise before breakfast, which my doctor does not like at all! Exercise before breakfast cuts my hunger for most of the day. been losing weight at a rate of about 1 lb/week, but I am worried that I may be losing muscle mass. I have never bonked during exercise, and pre and post glucose levels are about the same, with post exercise usually being higher. Year ago, FBG=106, TG=300, HDL=32, TC=160, Calculated LDL=110. Today, FBG=96, TG=105, HDL=40, TC=150, calculated LDL=95, A1c=5.6. Elimination of sugar and processed grains reduced my TG from 300 to 178. Reducing fruit consumption from 4/day to 2/day reduced TG from 178 to 105. I had 1/2 of my Thyroid and two parathyroids glands removed at age 26 because of cancer, on 0.1mg levothryoxine replacement. Also on 2 tablets/day of Lisinopril-HCTZ 10-12.5 MG for hypertension. Controlled BP is 135/75, heart rate is 62 BPM. Uncontrolled BP is between 145/85 and 150/90. I am seriously looking at NK for a few months to reduce my insulin resistance, but want to get more fit before doing so.
I should have pointed out that the appeal of exercising before breakfast is as follows: that time of day is when insulin levels are typically the lowest, with the assumption that lower insulin mean greater utilization of stored fat.
Hi Peter,
I love your website. I started LCHF about 5 weeks ago and have ordered some SS which should arrive tomorrow. I am an endurance mountain biker and have my next race on Sunday. It is 70 miles and will take me around 4:45 to complete and I would expect an average HR of about 158bpm vs my tested max at 186bpm.
In the following post, https://thatpaleoguy.com/2011/07/17/tdf-inspired-cycling-post-1-updating-high-fat-diets-for-cyclists/ Jamie Scott speaks to research that in fat adapted individuals, performance is better when there is a level of carb-replenishment prior to the race (only one day needed), but also that the research shows that there is a resultant decrease in fat utilisation as a result (and probably an increase in weight due to glycogen and water).
My question is, would I benefit from taking SuperStarch 2x or 3x the day before the race, again 2 hours before the race and then again 30 minutes before the start as a form of “carbo-loading” without any of the negative benefits from carbo-loading?
Many thanks
Ian
I don’t know, but it sounds like a great self-experiment! Hope you’ll keep us posted.
Dear Dr. Attia: I just recently came across your website and found it is extremely informative. I myself started low carb diet about two weeks ago. I’ve got one question. I have been doing p90x program for a while now and I take protein supplements such as hydrolyzed whey after my workout. Sometimes I take whey protein shake between meals. I am just wondering if taking whey protein supplements will throw me off ketosis? I have read an article which describes that the addition of whey to meals with rapidly digested and absorbed carbohydrates stimulates insulin release and reduces postprandial blood glucose excursion after a lunch meal consisting of mashed potatoes and meatballs in type 2 diabetic subjects (from the American journal of clinical nutrition, by Frid AH et al., 2005). I do realize that their study was done in type 2 diabetic patients and was in the presence of carbs. However, I am just wondering if taking hydrolyzed whey alone would spike my insulin level and throw me off ketosis. Your response will be much appreciated!
Really enjoy reading your articles!
Alexander, I’ve addressed several times throughout other posts and comments.
I’ve spent the last year training for Ironman Florida which I just completed last weekend. As you know, long-distance racing requires mental and physical fortitude, but it’s just as critical to develop a nutrition solution that provides for gastrointestinal fortitude. My race-day nutrition regimen, which left me free of GI distress, was the following: 1. Breakfast = 1 cup of coffee, 24 oz water with a Nuun (flavored electrolyte tablet) and a scoop of UCAN. 2. Swim = couple 8oz dixie cups of water at halfway point. 3. Bike = Bike Bottle #1 was 1 liter water plus 1 Nuun every 30 minutes throughout for hydration and electrolytes; Bike Bottle #2 was 6 scoops of UCAN nursed throughout, topping up with water consistently to dissolve more powder into the slurry — finished this at mile 100; Mile 56 Special Needs was a half-pound of brie and a half-pound of peppered beef jerky which I ate over the next 10 miles. 4. Run = 4 scoops UCAN+2 Nuun tablets nursed throughout in CamelBak, and then I had a cup of water or two every time I passed an aid table. Mixed in some chicken soup after dark. In keeping with my low-carb race prep, I didn’t have a single swig of Perform or Cola, nor did I eat a Bonk Breaker, banana, brownie, cookie, pretzel, or any of the other stuff they put out for us (though I do find UCAN knocks me out of ketosis, it is a far superior carbohydrate to any of the other stuff I’ve tried). Next time I race I’ll use the same formula and expect the same results. Thanks for the guidance!
Very cool, Luke. Did you measure BHB before and after?
I’m getting a rough estimate of acetoacetate via ketostix. Evening before a UCAN workout I’ll be in the medium-to-high ketone range, and then following exercise i’ll be in “trace” or the “not present” range and it’ll take me a day or two to read ketones again. In contrast, if I’m reading medium-to-high ketones the night before I ride for a few hours on just water and electrolytes (Nuun), the ketostix will show a ketone increase relative to the pre-workout reading that tends to remain elevated for a good 12 hours.
Keep in mind, Luke, the more “keto-adapted” one gets, the less they body will waste AcAc in urine. Last time I did a 24-hour urine collection I excreted less than 1 gm of AcAc in 24 hours (>6 liters) of urine, despite plasma BHB levels of 2-4 mM.
It’s been 7 months since I read this article, discovered your writing and made the switch to SS. The USAC just upgraded my license to Pro. Yesterday I kicked off with base for next season and rode for 3.5h. I consumed 1 scoop of SS and 1 dessert spoon of MCT oil about an hour before setting out. Plain water only during. Last year this was a 5 gel and 2 bottle maltodextrin ride, a total of about 1,000 kcal of sugar. I feel a bit queasy just thinking about what that did to my stomach, but the real advantage for me comes after the ride. Before the post ride carb craving bordered on anxiety attack.
My doctor just dumped me for insisting on the NMR Lipoprofile test over the VAP. Apparently it “wasn’t working out”. Will you be my family practitioner?
Keep up the amazing work, it is very much appreciated.
Christopher, amazing to hear about your transformation, and congrats on the upgrade! I wish you the best in finding a new doc. A VAP is acceptable if they have changed over to measuring apoB (vs. what they used to do which was calculate/estimate, which could be misleading). But it sounds like that ship has sailed.
Chris, you should check the list of lipidologists on http://www.lipid.org and find one in your area, they should on their own get you the NMR and other diagnostics through HDL. If you live in NY, I can tell you who I went to.
Are there any ‘natural/food’ starches that would suffice that you would suggest if one didn’t want to or couldn’t use/buy the Super Starch?
Hydrothermally treated amylopectin does not exist in nature, of course, so technically there is nothing quite like this. Depending on your insulin resistance/sensitivity, it may not matter as much and you may get away with a waxy maize.
I wanted to take some time to comment on my own experience utilizing the information I’ve learned (mostly) from this blog. Not just in body transformation, but also in how it has impacted my physical health and performance.