Dr. Michael Ormsbee

Yeah. So we got interested in the modified carbohydrate space a while back. And it started with a student who was hyper-interested in carbohydrate.

Yeah. So we got interested in the modified carbohydrate space a while back. And it started with a student who was hyper-interested in carbohydrate.

Yeah. And they drive. I mean, my lab is so fantastic. They're all brilliant scientists. They're so much smarter than me, and I love that because they just have great ideas, and we can weave it into stuff that we can get funding for, and it's just a really good mix.

Yeah. And they drive. I mean, my lab is so fantastic. They're all brilliant scientists. They're so much smarter than me, and I love that because they just have great ideas, and we can weave it into stuff that we can get funding for, and it's just a really good mix.

But I had this student at the time, Dan Bauer, who was a phenomenal student and hyper-interested in all things carbohydrate, and I was kind of protein-based. dominant for all of the work I was into. So it was a great addition to what we were doing there to round out sort of some of our macronutrient profiles that we were interested in.

But I had this student at the time, Dan Bauer, who was a phenomenal student and hyper-interested in all things carbohydrate, and I was kind of protein-based. dominant for all of the work I was into. So it was a great addition to what we were doing there to round out sort of some of our macronutrient profiles that we were interested in.

He started with a review paper that we sort of team wrote to just get the history of what's going on with these. And if you're unaware of these modified starches, well, regular starch, for example, has structural components of it like amylose and amylopectin, and they will dictate the rate at which it will be digested.

He started with a review paper that we sort of team wrote to just get the history of what's going on with these. And if you're unaware of these modified starches, well, regular starch, for example, has structural components of it like amylose and amylopectin, and they will dictate the rate at which it will be digested.

When you modify that starch, you can do it several ways chemically, or we were using hydrothermally modified, so it was like water and heat and pressure, and you can change it. It doesn't matter any longer what the amylopectin ratio is. That's out the window. It doesn't even matter. So that's what students get tripped up on a lot is that once you modify it, that's no longer a thing.

When you modify that starch, you can do it several ways chemically, or we were using hydrothermally modified, so it was like water and heat and pressure, and you can change it. It doesn't matter any longer what the amylopectin ratio is. That's out the window. It doesn't even matter. So that's what students get tripped up on a lot is that once you modify it, that's no longer a thing.

And so the particular product we started with, was designed for people with glycogen storage disease. Oh, McArdle's. So there's a glycogen, it's separate too. Outside of McArdle's, there's glycogen storage disease where you cannot store glycogen.

And so the particular product we started with, was designed for people with glycogen storage disease. Oh, McArdle's. So there's a glycogen, it's separate too. Outside of McArdle's, there's glycogen storage disease where you cannot store glycogen.

And so what you have to do, what was developed was a version of this super starch that was slow drip, didn't raise insulin and kept glucose steady for long periods of time. And so that's how it was used for ages.

And so what you have to do, what was developed was a version of this super starch that was slow drip, didn't raise insulin and kept glucose steady for long periods of time. And so that's how it was used for ages.

Yeah. And so what athletes do, they hear about this. What I love is that the clinical goes to the athletes and the athlete kind of work also goes to clinical. So I'm thinking of cases like creatine. in athletes over to clinical. And then in this case, clinical with the glycogen storage disease coming back to athletes. So athletes here, slow drip glucose. Here we go.

Yeah. And so what athletes do, they hear about this. What I love is that the clinical goes to the athletes and the athlete kind of work also goes to clinical. So I'm thinking of cases like creatine. in athletes over to clinical. And then in this case, clinical with the glycogen storage disease coming back to athletes. So athletes here, slow drip glucose. Here we go.

Some companies got involved and they made what was called UCAN SuperStarch. And so we decided to start testing it because there were a lot of claims around it. And it was just nice. We were able to really over several studies decide, you know, what design do we need? Because the super starch folks would say that you would need less of a serving than you would have a normal carbohydrate.

Some companies got involved and they made what was called UCAN SuperStarch. And so we decided to start testing it because there were a lot of claims around it. And it was just nice. We were able to really over several studies decide, you know, what design do we need? Because the super starch folks would say that you would need less of a serving than you would have a normal carbohydrate.

So for example, if you normally have 60 grams per hour with the super starch, the claim was you could do maybe 30 grams per hour. You don't need as much of it as this slow drip. And then it wouldn't raise insulin concentrations either, which I don't know that's a good or bad thing, but it just wouldn't do it.

So for example, if you normally have 60 grams per hour with the super starch, the claim was you could do maybe 30 grams per hour. You don't need as much of it as this slow drip. And then it wouldn't raise insulin concentrations either, which I don't know that's a good or bad thing, but it just wouldn't do it.