Starch is a polymer carbohydrate, a polysaccharide composed of a single type of sugar unit. The basic building block of starch is α-D-glucopyranose, and the ****-valent polymer formed when glucose is linked together by glycosidic bonds after the removal of water molecules is the starch molecule.

Starch is processed in the food industry to produce a variety of sugars. Starch is dissolved in warm water to produce dextrins, which can be used as thickeners and harden to act as binders. The most widespread use of starch in the non-food industry is as a binder in the papermaking process.

Applications

Starch has a wide range of applications, with modified starch being the focus. Modified starch refers to starch or starch derivatives that use physical, chemical or enzymatic means to change the molecular structure and physicochemical properties of the original starch, thus producing new properties and uses. Its types are diverse and are divided into the following categories according to the treatment.

1, physical denaturation: pre-gelatinized (α-chemical) starch, γ-ray, ultra-high-frequency radiation treatment of starch, mechanical milling treatment of starch, moist heat treatment of starch and so on.

2, chemical denaturation: with a variety of chemical reagents to deal with the modified starch. There are two categories: one is to make the molecular weight of starch decrease, such as acid starch, oxidized starch, baking dextrin, etc.; the other is to make the molecular weight of starch increase, such as cross-linking starch, esterified starch, etherified starch, grafted starch and so on.

3, enzymatic denaturation (biomodification): various enzymes to treat starch. Such as α, β, γ-cyclodextrin, maltodextrin, straight chain starch.

4, compound denaturation: using more than two treatment methods to obtain modified starch. Such as oxidized crosslinked starch, crosslinked esterified starch. The modified starch obtained by compound denaturation has the respective advantages of two kinds of modified starch.

5, in the food industry, you can use high straight chain corn starch to produce diet food and fried food, but also the ideal food for diabetics, known as "functional food"; in addition, high straight chain starch is also the ideal food for gallstones and hypertension patients, with the prevention of gallstones and reduce blood cholesterol formation. It can prevent the formation of gallstones and lower blood cholesterol.

The use of modern industrial means, the production of some special properties of the starch, known as "modified starch" (Modified starch).

In addition, modified starch can also be classified according to the production process route, there are dry (such as phosphate starch, acid starch, cationic starch, carboxymethyl starch, etc.), wet, organic solvents (such as carboxy starch preparation generally use ethanol as a solvent), extrusion and drum drying (such as natural starch or modified starch as raw materials for the production of pre-pasturized starch) and so on.

Expanded Information:

Eating

Natural food starch that is not cooked is not readily broken down and thus digested by human amylase because it exists in the form of starch granules. Cooking allows moisture to enter the starch granules, creating a pasting effect, which in turn forms a gel that is easily broken down by human digestive enzymes.

If you consume large quantities of uncooked, starch-rich plants, the undigested starch will be utilized by bacteria in the large intestine to produce large amounts of gas, causing abdominal pain.

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