Solnul CSO: ‘The prebiotic effect and tolerability is bringing a lot of interest to resistant starch’

Speaking with NutraIngredients at the recent SupplySide West trade show in Las Vegas, Dr. Jason Bush said that Solnul is now in over 80 different commercial products, which are positioned for a wide range of benefits, including GLP-1 support, digestive health, energy and even histamine reduction.

“Resistant starch has been around forever, but I think now with the microbiome awareness, people are seeing a resistant starch has a prebiotic effect and tolerability” he said. “This is a huge aspect for resistant starch: That slow fermentation.

“We've tested levels 10 times our clinical dose, and we have no adverse events. So being able to kind of piece those little parts of the message together, I think it's bringing a lot of people, bringing a lot of interest to the resistant starch category.”

Solnul​

Solnul-branded resistant starch is derived from potatoes. The ingredient was developed by MSP, the largest potato starch producer in Canada. The Solnul brand name is derived from the Latin name for potato, Solanum tuberosum​, and granule.

The company has been steadily building the scientific portfolio for its prebiotic, defined by ISAPP as “a substrate that is selectively utilized by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit.” (Gibson, et al. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol​, (2017) 14, 491–502​)

Published data shows that 3.5 g/day of Solnul significantly increases the abundance of not only Bifidobacterium​​ but also leads to a 238% increase in the relative abundance of Akkermansia ​(Nutrients, 15​(7), 1582​​), ​a next-generation probiotic that has been shown to increase the production of GLP-1, a hormone that plays a crucial role in regulating blood sugar levels, weight management and appetite.

A recent paper published in Metabolites​​ reported that a 3.5 g daily dose of the ingredient could reduce the levels of circulating free fatty acids (FFA), an important early marker of metabolic health.

Dr. Bush noted that one of the biggest challenges in the dietary supplement space is studying meaningful effects in healthy people, and that Solnul was fortunate to be able to use serum metabolomics in its study.

“While we didn't measure GLP-1, we didn't measure HBA 1c, blood glucose, all those things that people are really excited about, [metabolomics] put us in a position to study free fatty acid release, and I think a lot of people are starting to recognize this is actually the earliest marker of metabolic dysfunction,” he explained.

“Free fatty acid elevation tends to precede elevations in blood glucose in people as they move towards that type-2 diabetes diagnosis, so we were really excited to see in our data set the significant reduction […], to see that reduction in this healthy population really kind of speaking to one of the benefits people have always thought resistant starch had, and that's to improve metabolism.”

Dr. Bush also discussed how Solnul can “significantly and meaningfully” increase Akkermansia levels in the gut and how the ingredient can fit into several different angles in the wider conversation around GLP-1. Watch the video above for the full interview.