Addition of Fatty Acids and Heat Treatment to Reduce Potato Starch Digestibility

Abstract

We attempted to reduce the digestibility of potato starch by adding fatty acids (palmitic or linoleic acid) and treating with heat in order to develop a starch product with high consumer acceptability. The starch digestion rate was measured by enzymatically hydrolyzing starch samples using porcine pancreas α-amylase (EC 3.2.1.1) and amyloglucosidase (EC 3.2.1.3), and measuring the amount of glucose released after 90 min. In addition, we evaluated the starch digestion rate by calculating the in vitro glycemic index (EGI) using the method of Goni et al. (1997). The greatest EGI reduction (approximately 60% reduction compared to non-treated samples) was observed in potato starch samples adjusted to 20% moisture content and to which at least 3% fatty acid had been added. In this study, we were able to create a resistant potato starch by using simple food processing techniques of fatty acid addition and heat treatment.