Effect of Heat-moisture Treatment on the Structure and Physicochemical Properties of Cereal, Legume, and Tuber Starches

Native wheat, oat, lentil, yam, and potato starches were heat treated at 100 degrees C for 16 h at moisture contents between 10 and 30%. The heat treatment did not change granule size and shape. In oat starch, granules were less compactly packed after heat treatment. The X-ray diffraction intensities increased in wheat, oat, and lentil starches, but decreased in potato and yam. The X-ray patterns of wheat and oat starches remained unchanged, while those of lentil, potato, and yam starches became more cereal-like. In all starches, the swelling factor and amylose leaching decreased, being more pronounced in potato. Heat treatment induced complex formation between amylose and native lipids. Differential scanning calorimetry of the heat-treated samples showed a broadening of the gelatinization-temperature range and a shifting of the endothermal transition towards higher temperatures. These changes were more pronounced in potato starch. The gelatinization enthalpy of wheat, oat, and lentil starches remained unchanged, but those of potato and yam starches decreased on heat treatment. Heat treatment increased the 95 degrees C viscosity of wheat starch, but decreased those of oat lentil, potato, and yam starches. In all starches, thermal and shear stability increased after heat treatment. Acid hydrolysis decreased on heat treatment of wheat and lentil starches, but increased in oat, potato, and yam starches. However, in potato and yam starches, the foregoing trend was evident only during the first seven days of hydrolysis. Thereafter, acid hydrolysis was more pronounced in native than in heat-treated starches. The susceptibility towards hydrolysis by porcine pancreatic alpha amylase decreased on heat treatment of wheat and lentil starches, whereas increases were observed for oat, potato, and yam starches. The results indicated that the extent of starch-chain associations within the amorphous regions and the degree of crystalline order are altered during heat-moisture treatment. The magnitude of these changes were found to be dependent upon the moisture content during heat treatment and on the starch source.