Comparative study: How annealing and heat-moisture treatment affect the digestibility, textural, and physicochemical properties of maize starch

In this study, we investigated the effects of annealing (ANN) and heat-moisture treatment (HMT) on the in vitro digestibility, textural, and physicochemical properties of maize starch. Both modification methods did not affect the typical "A"-type XRD pattern of maize starch. However, the amylose content, relative crystallinity, water absorption capacity, and gelatinization temperature of maize starch significantly increased following modification, while the peak viscosity, hardness, adhesiveness, and gelatinization enthalpy decreased. Both the solubility and swelling power, which were temperature dependent, progressively decreased following ANN and HMT treatments. Compared to native starch, modified maize starch had higher contents of slowly digested starch and resistant starch, lower content of rapidly digested starch, and reduced hydrolysis. These results revealed that ANN and HMT treatments efficiently modified the in vitro digestibility, textural, and physicochemical properties of maize starch.