Effect of repeated freezing-thawing on structural, physicochemical and digestible properties of normal and waxy starch gels

The normal and waxy corn starch gels were subjected to repeated freeze-thaw treatment at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,5 and 6 cycles with an interval of 24 h, and the effects on structural, physicochemical and digestible properties were investigated. The normal starch gels formed a honeycomb structure while waxy starch gels exhibited a lamellar structure, and the number of holes and lamellas increased with increasing cycles. The X-ray analysis showed that the A-type pattern of starches was converted into the B-type after treatment, and their relative crystallinity increased with the number of increased freeze-thaw cycles. The hardness increased in both normal and waxy starch. The solubility and pasting breakdown viscosity decreased in normal starch while they increased in waxy starch. The pasting peak time, peak viscosity, and setback viscosity increased in normal starch but decreased in waxy starch. The rapidly digested starch (RDS) and slowly digested starch (SDS) content in normal starch increased and non-digestible starch (RS) content decreased whereas the RDS, SDS and RS content in waxy starch was almost unchanged as the freeze-thaw cycles increased. In the meantime, the molecular weight of both normal and waxy starch decreased with freeze-thaw treatment. Therefore, the repeated freeze-thaw treatment can change the physicochemical and digestible properties which could be a basis for starch-based food processing.