The hidden dangers of amylopectin

The Amylopectin Starch Guide

Here I present two short articles on amylopectin, a food ingredient everyone should understand. I’ll start with a practical shopping guide and then present evidence that “gluten intolerance” is probably driven by amylopectin, not gluten.

The Amylopectin shopping guide: stay under 70 percent

Starch in wheat, rice, and potatoes contains amylopectin, a fast-digesting molecule that spikes blood sugar and contributes to insulin resistance. Most foods have about 70-80% amylopectin (high, unhealthy), waxy or sticky wheat varieties reach 80-100% (worst), and some are 60-70% (better, with fiber or slower digesting). Whole grain adds fiber but is typically 70% amylopectin. In general, less than 70 percent amylopectin is best. White rice, which is high in amylopectin, promotes insulin resistance: a 2012 meta-analysis in BMJ found that higher white-rice consumption (3-4 servings/day) was associated with a 1.5-fold increased risk of type 2 diabetes, especially in Asian populations.

Here’s how to avoid high-amylopectin foods and pick lower-amylopectin options.

Avoid These: High-Amylopectin Products (70-100%)
Soft, sticky, or refined foods are packed with amylopectin. Soft, white breads (e.g., baguettes) and squishy bagels are ~70-80%. Found in:

• Breads/Bagels: Soft baguettes, hamburger buns, white or squishy bagels, factory-produced “whole wheat” loaves like Pepperidge Farms.

• Baked Goods: Fluffy muffins, English muffins, soft cookies.

• Cereals/Crackers: Puffed rice, puffed corn, corn flakes, Cheerios, buttery crackers.

• Any packaged corn product: corn muffins, corn-meal, corn bread, corn-based cereals, corn starch

• Noodles: Sticky udon, instant ramen.

• Rice/Potatoes: Sticky rice, short-grain white rice, russet potatoes.

• Baking: White flour, cake mixes, “enriched” white flour.

Skip squishy, white, or sticky items with “enriched” or “refined” labels. Any baked product that comes from a factory is going to be high in amylopectin, even if you find it at Whole Foods and the package is very “organic” looking.

Choose These: Lower-Amylopectin and Whole Grain (60-70%)
Dense, whole grain, or high-fiber foods have slightly lower amylopectin, often ~60-70%, with fiber to slow digestion. Bagels are ~70% amylopectin unless whole grain. Choose:

• Breads/Bagels: Dave’s Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains, Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Bagels/English Muffins, whole grain baguettes, Sourdough bread (long-fermented), 100% rye bread, sprouted grain bread (e.g. Ezekiel), spelt bread, einkorn bread, barley bread, buckwheat flatbread, teff-based injera, whole-seed-based breads where the seeds are on the inside, not just on the outside.

• Baked Goods: Whole grain muffins, hard cookies not made in a factory.

• Cereals: Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes, Kellogg’s All-Bran Original, Post 100% Bran, Cascadian Farm Organic Purely O’s, Barbara’s Bakery Original Puffins, Alpen No Added Sugar Muesli, Grape-Nuts Original, Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Crunchy Cereal, Trader Joe’s High Fiber Cereal, Trader Joe’s Organic Heritage Flakes, Trader Joe’s Bran Flakes, Trader Joe’s Weetabix, Weetabix Original, Shredded Wheat Original

• Muffins: Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Muffins, Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Muffin Mix, Simple Mills Almond Flour Muffins, Nature’s Path Organic Oat Bran Muffins, Trader Joe’s Whole Grain Muffins, Vitalicious VitaTops Muffin Tops, King Arthur Whole Wheat Muffin Mix, Udi’s Gluten-Free Whole Grain Muffins

• Noodles: Firm whole grain spaghetti, buckwheat soba, brown rice noodles. Look for non-sticky, “whole grain,” “buckwheat,” or “brown rice” labels.

• Rice: long-grain basmati rice is a healthier choice than short-grain rice. Look for products from Ingredion at Whole Foods — they are experimenting with new starches that are much lower in amylopectin.

• Baking: Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Flour, King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour, Einkorn, Emmer, Spelt, Khorasan (Kamut), SBEIIa-silenced durum wheat, triple null SSIIa bread wheat, high-amylose wheat (HAW) lines. If you hear “heirloom varieties,” those are still not low enough in amylopectin for everyday consumption.

About potatoes
Young, small potatoes harvested early in the growing season, typically in spring or early summer, before their starches fully develop. Unlike mature potatoes like russets, which have around 80% amylopectin, new potatoes have a slightly lower amylopectin content, around 65%, making them a better choice for blood-sugar control. They’re often small (golf ball-sized), with thin, waxy skins, and a creamy texture. Common varieties include Yukon Gold (when harvested young), Red Bliss, or Fingerling.

Glycemic load is more important than glycemic index
Most people who are not pre-diabetic or diabetic can eat half a muffin or a small bowl of rice without much of a spike in insulin, so it’s okay to get some of these foods in small doses. My favorite cereal is Grape Nuts, which is on the list of okay cereals. But a bowl of Cheerios, or even Grape Nuts Flakes, or a bagel, or two slices of white bread, or a small baguette, is going to cause a spike in insulin, and the more often it happens, the more likely you are to become insulin resistant. Try to mix your starches and reduce the amount of amylopectin you eat at any one time.

Your A1c number tells you how much you can eat
As I mention in my big longevity roundup, the lower your A1c, the more insulin-resistance-causing foods you can eat. So if your A1c is 5.5, you can pretty much ignore amylopectin, at least until your A1c number goes up. The closer you are to 5.8, the more you need to pay attention, and at 5.9 or higher, the stricter you should be about avoiding these starches. After 6.0, you should consider eating no carbohydrates at all, at least until you can get your number down and buy more starch tickets.

Is Amylopectin the Hidden Driver Behind the Gluten-Intolerance Epidemic?

Gluten gets all the blame, but there's another ingredient hiding in plain sight in modern baked goods that may be fueling the rise in gluten sensitivity: amylopectin. Amylopectin is a highly branched form of starch found in wheat and other grains. It’s digested very quickly, causing rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin. In contrast, its slower cousin, amylose — also called resistant starch — breaks down more gradually. Foods high in amylose are far less dangerous than foods high in amolypectin.

How Amylopectin Affects Gluten Intolerance
While gluten is the actual protein that triggers immune reactions in celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity, amylopectin plays a supporting (and damaging) role:

• Spikes blood sugar and inflammation, increasing gut permeability (“leaky gut”)

• Feeds problematic gut bacteria, which may worsen digestive symptoms

• Amplifies the inflammatory effect of gluten when consumed together

In other words, amylopectin makes the gut more vulnerable and gluten more toxic. Modern wheat, like hard red wheat in the U.S., is bred to be high in both gluten and amylopectin. The result is fluffier bread with longer shelf life, but it’s a digestive storm for many. See this list of foods high in amylopectin and avoid them.

U.S. vs. Europe: A Tale of Two Breads
In the U.S., most bread is made from dwarf wheat, with high gluten and high amylopectin. Fast-rise baking methods and added starches further intensify the glycemic punch. In contrast, many European countries use heritage wheat, longer fermentation (like sourdough), and fewer added starches. This makes their bread lower in both amylopectin and digestive disruption.

Does This Explain the Gluten Intolerance Epidemic?

It could explain a big part of it. The spike in gluten-related complaints may not just be about gluten itself, but the modern processing and high-amylopectin starches that come with it. People often tolerate bread in Europe but feel awful after eating a slice in the U.S. — not because of gluten levels alone, but because the type of wheat used in Europe is different.

Bottom Line
The “gluten intolerance epidemic” might really be a modern starch intolerance — with amylopectin acting as the match that lights the fire. If you've gone gluten-free but still feel bad, the culprit might not be gluten at all. Try foods that are high in gluten but low in amylopectin and see how you feel.