Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
High quality and nutritious foods are essential for human health and well-being. The starch industry is central to food production and economies world-wide. Starch functionality is intricately related to the complex structure of the starch granule, which creates opportunities for modifying starch properties to address important societal issues. We propose a novel approach to modify starch functionality by incorporating small guest molecules with advantageous nutritional traits into the starch granule amorphous regions. Our long-term goal is to create novel starch granule-guest inclusion complexes with desirable structure-function traits for food quality and nutritional value while advancing fundamental understanding of the basis for guest molecule interactions with starch. These value-added novel starch ingredients have potential economic benefit to numerous industries, and the guest molecules will increase dietary fiber, antioxidant, and amino acid profiles in foods while improving the starch functionality in reduced-sugar formulations. Our objectives are to: 1) create starch granule-guest inclusion complexes, 2) understand the thermodynamic and structural basis of guest molecule interactions within starch granules, 3) document effects of the guest molecules on starch structure and function, and 4) develop recommendations for food products that would benefit from using these novel ingredients. This work addresses program area priorities "develop novel ingredients to ensure the quality and nutrition of foods; improve understanding of the chemical and physical properties of novel ingredients" in Novel Foods and Innovative Manufacturing Technologies A1364.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
75%
Applied
25%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal of this project is to create novel starch granule-guest inclusion complexes with desirable structure-function traits for food quality, nutritional value, and shelf-life applications while advancing fundamental understanding of the basis for guest molecule interactions with starch.The specific objectives of this proposal are to:Create starch granule-guest molecule inclusion complexes.Understand the thermodynamic and structural basis of guest molecule interactions within the starch granules.Document the effects of the guest molecules on the structure and function of the starch, as well as the stability of these novel ingredients.Develop recommendations for food products that would benefit from using these ingredients in the formulations for quality, nutrition, and shelf-life improvement.
Project Methods
The solid state properties of the samples will be documented by a number of methods, including: X-ray diffraction (XRD) for crystal identification and phase analysis; DSC to determine glass transition, melting, and crystallization temperatures (Tg, Tm, Tcry), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to verify the Tm or degradation temperature and moisture content; controlled temperature and RH polarized light microscopy; moisture sorption profiling to document susceptibility to moisture uptake and the equilibrium moisture content at a given storage RH; moisture content using Karl Fischer titrations and/or vacuum oven drying; solubility determination; and dissolution rate by intrinsic dissolution studies, with HPLC or refractive index analysis of the amount dissolved as a function of time. The viscosities of the guest molecule solutions will be measured using capillary viscometers and RVA methods, and the aw and pH values will be determined at different solids concentrations. Guest molecule partitioning into starch granules will be evaluated by monitoring the loss in solution concentration of the guest molecule from bulk aqueous phase following equilibration with starch solutions.We will compile and compare all results to document the extent/magnitude of structural and functional changes across the different guest molecule types and treatments, and the functional traits will be mapped to desirable Tgel and RVA profiles for a variety of products. The starch-guest complexes with the highest Tgels in water will be further studied in 'model' solution and product formulations. Initial results will be analyzed by linear regression, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and ANOVA/MANOVA/mixed linear models followed by a Tukey's HSD post hoc test (α=0.05) to test the significance of the main factors and individual differences in means. Then principal component analysis will be used to elucidate structure-activity relationships between the main experimental variables (starch type, guest type, etc.), key molecular properties of the guest molecule form, formulation, and responses (Tgel, crystallinity, RVA parameters, digestibility, other functions). We expect the novel starch-guest ingredients can be used to improve the quality, shelf-life, and nutrient profile of foods; that the starch-guest complexes with the highest Tgels can be used in formulations that require less sucrose to produce the desirable starch-based structure; and that the amounts of internalized guest molecules (and their influence on starch structure and resistance to digestion) will be enough to significantly increase the amount of dietary fiber/antioxidant/amino acids in foods when used at common starch amounts in products.