In recent years, with the improvement of people’s living standards and changes in dietary structure, the incidence of diet-related diseases such as “three highs” and diabetes has gradually increased.

Therefore, how to achieve anti-glycemic and hypoglycemic in diet has become a hot issue that more and more researchers are concerned about.

Starch, as an important basic raw material in the food industry, belongs to the high GI type (Glycemic Index, GI) food, which is digested faster in the body and leads to a rapid increase in postprandial blood glucose, resulting in a series of chronic diseases such as obesity and hyperglycemia.

Starch has the ability to improve food processing performance, and the adjustment effect on the taste and texture of food is often irreplaceable by other food ingredients. Therefore, it needs to be modified to improve its digestion and absorption speed. Resistant starch belongs to the modified starch with low GI, which can reduce the insulin secretion of human body, and reduce the calorie production and fat formation.

Physiological functions of resistant starch

1.1 Preventing intestinal diseases

Resistant starch can not be digested and absorbed in the small intestine, but only fermented by intestinal bacteria in the large intestine to generate short-chain fatty acids, so it is very beneficial for maintaining intestinal health, and the gas produced after fermentation can increase the volume of feces, which can relieve intestinal diseases such as colon cancer, hemorrhoids, constipation, etc. and the effect is remarkable.

1.2 Weight control

Resistant starch can increase the satiety and fecal volume of human body, it is not easy to be digested and produces almost no calorie, compared with common starch, the calorie produced by resistant starch in the human body is the smallest, and the utilization efficiency of glucose is also reduced, so it can be used as the base material of weight-loss food so as to achieve the purpose of controlling the body weight.

1.3 Regulate blood sugar level

Resistant starch is a low GI food that can effectively regulate postprandial blood glucose level, which is effective in treating diabetic patients. For people with non-insulin-dependent disease, the intake of resistant starch food can effectively delay blood glucose and insulin levels.

Therefore, it can be used in the development of health food for diabetics, as a lipid-regulating food, and in the development of endurance food.

Application of Resistant Starch

2.1 Application in fried food production

The high heat stability and safety of RS in deep-fried flavored foods are highly trusted, and the study of Sanz et al. showed that RS in deep-fried puffed foods played a role in increasing the content of dietary fiber and nutritional value.

Resistant starch has been shown to reduce oil consumption, promote puffing, enhance crispiness, and give products unique toughness and flavor, among other functions.

2.2 Application in bakery products

In order to reduce people’s intake, but not the lack of dietary fiber in the diet, food companies have added wheat bran with barley flour in bread, thus improving the nutritional value of bread.

However, dietary fiber changes the color of the bread and affects the sensory score of the bread, reducing a large number of consumers.

Adding appropriate amount of resistant starch to replace low-gluten flour in cookies not only maintains better hardness and chewiness, but also improves the nutritional value of cookies without affecting the taste.

Gao Huiying et al. partially replaced low-gluten flour with resistant starch in cookies, and when the replacement amount was 20%, the hardness value of the cookies was about 517.8 g. Consumer acceptance was high, and the cookies maintained better textural properties and the in vitro GI value decreased from 87.18 to 67.12.

2.3 Application in other foods

RS can effectively enhance the flavor of yogurt and provide a carbon source for the growth and propagation of probiotics. Because the small intestine cannot digest RS, it can be used as a material for microcapsules embedded in other probiotics. It can also be applied as a food thickener in sauces, soups, beverages and other dairy products to increase the opacity and suspension of beverages without affecting the taste and flavor.