Effects of starch on nitrous acid-induced oxidation of kaempferol and inhibition of α-amylase-catalysed digestion of starch by kaempferol under conditions simulating the stomach and the intestine.

Kaempferol glycosides can be hydrolyzed to their aglycone kaempferol during cooking under acidic conditions and in the oral cavity and the intestine by glycosidases. Kaempferol was oxidised by nitrite under acidic conditions (pH 2.0) to produce nitric oxide (NO), and the nitrite-induced oxidation of kaempferol was enhanced and inhibited by 10 and 100mg of starch ml(-1), respectively. The opposite effects of starch were discussed by considering the binding of kaempferol to starch and starch-dependent inhibition of the accessibility of nitrous acid to kaempferol. Kaempferol inhibited α-amylase-catalysed starch digestion by forming starch/kaempferol complexes, and the inhibitory effects increased in the order of amylopectin<soluble starch<amylose. The different effects of kaempferol were discussed to be due to the difference in binding sites of kaempferol between amylose and amylopectin. From the present study, dual-function of kaempferol became apparent in the digestive tract.