The influence of saturated fatty acids on complex index and in vitro digestibility of rice starch.

In Asia, rice and rice products are the main sources of carbohydrate contributing to both dietary energy and glycaemic load. It is known that complexation of starch with lipids could potentially reduce the availability of starch to enzymatic degradation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of capric, lauric, myristic, palmitic and stearic acids, ranging from 0 to 2 mmol/g starch, on complexing index and in vitro digestibility of gelatinized rice starch. The results revealed that the ability of rice starch to complex with saturated fatty acids increased with increasing concentration; but reduced with increasing lipid chain length. The complexation of rice starch with capric, lauric, myristic and stearic acids did not reduce the in vitro starch digestibility, except rice starch-palmitic acid complexes.