Effects of heat treatment and moisture contents on interactions between lauric acid and starch granules.

This study aimed to understand the effects of the moisture content of granular normal cornstarch (NC), heat treatment at 80 °C, and order of adding lauric acid (LA) to starch before or after the heat treatment on the physicochemical properties and digestibility of the starch. LA was added to NC priority heated with different moisture contents (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50%) or added to dried NC and then heated with different moisture contents. The hydrothermal/LA treatments increased the pasting temperature but decreased the peak viscosity of the NC. Light and scanning electron microscopy revealed that the addition of LA retarded gelatinization. The hydrothermal/LA treatments changed the X-ray pattern of the NC to a mixture of A- and V-type patterns. The thermal property and digestibility analysis showed that 40% was the optimum moisture content for the formation of the amylose-LA complex and adding LA prior to heating the NC favored the formation of slowly digestible starch.