The physicochemical properties of a spray dried glutinous rice starch biopolymer

Improving physicochemical and nutritional attributes of rice starch through green modification techniques

Rice, has long been an inseparable part of the human diet all over the world. As one of the most rapidly growing crops, rice has played a key role in securing the food chain of low-income food-deficit countries. Starch is the main component in rice granules which other than its nutritional essence, plays a key role in defining the physicochemical attributes of rice-based products. However, rice starch suffers from weak techno-functional characteristics (e.g., retrogradability of pastes, opacity of gels, and low shear/temperature resistibility. Green modification techniques (i.e. Non-thermal methods, Novel thermal (e.g., microwave, and ohmic heating) and enzymatic approaches) were shown to be potent tools in modifying rice starch characteristics without the exertion of unfavorable chemical reagents. This study corroborated the potential of green techniques for rice starch modification and provided deep insight for their further application instead of unsafe chemical methods.

Understanding the mechanisms of β-glucan regulating the in vitro starch digestibility of highland barley starch under spray drying: Structure and physicochemical properties

This study investigated the effects of β-glucan (0-6%) on the physicochemical properties, structure, and in vitro digestibility of highland barley starch (HBS) under spray drying (SD). SD significantly enhanced the inhibitory effect of 6% β-glucan on the in vitro digestibility and glucose diffusion of HBS. After SD, the addition of β-glucan at 4% and 6% concentration significantly increased the pasting temperatures of starch while decreased the rheological properties. Thermal properties demonstrated that β-glucan improved the thermal stability and residue content of HBS at 600°C, lowered its maximum loss rate, and maintained its thermal stability after SD. Structural properties showed that β-glucan affected greatly on amorphous regions of HBS after SD. Additionally, β-glucan dispersed more evenly in the starch system and experienced hydrogen bonding with starch after SD. This study presents a novel approach to enhancing the inhibitory effect of β-glucan on starch digestion.

Effect of operating conditions on structure and digestibility of spray-dried corn starch

Spray drying has been widely applied in food industry due to its efficiency and low cost. Exploring feasibility to prepare resistant starch (RS) via spray drying could open up new route to produce starch-based products with low glycemic index efficiently. In this study, effects of spray drying operating conditions on the structure and digestibility of recrystallized spray-dried corn starch (RSDCS) were explored. Apparent amylose content (AAC) and swelling power (SP) of the RSDCSs increased after the spray drying and recrystallization. Particle size of the RSDCSs decreased significantly with increase of compressed air flow and decrease of starch suspension concentration. Furthermore, the short-range order, long-range order, and content of RS in the RSDCSs decreased with increase of compressed air flow and starch suspension concentration. The Pearson's correlation analysis showed that digestive properties of the RSDCSs were mainly related to the short-range ordered structure and crystalline structure. Moreover, Mantel analysis revealed that operating conditions changed the digestibility of the RSDCSs through impacting crystalline structure, AAC and SP. The highest content of RS in the RSDCSs (23.08%) was increased near 2.6 times comparing to that of native corn starch (9.02%).

Application of co-precipitated glutinous rice starch as a multifunctional excipient in direct compression tablets

Two key properties of excipients for inclusion in direct compression tablets are flowability and compactibility. Glutinous rice starch (GRS) has poor flowability, which limits its use in direct compression tablets. This study aimed to create a multifunctional direct compression excipient (filler binder disintegrant) with improved flowability from GRS by the co-precipitation method. The physicochemical and pharmaceutical properties of the co-precipitated GRS (cpGRS) were investigated. The optimum conditions for producing cpGRS (0.43 M sodium hydroxide solution, 7.09% PVP K30, 14.02% calcium carbonate, 95 min of mixing time and pH of 6.97) resulted in 68.80% yield, fair to good flowability, acceptable tablet strength, and fast disintegration. The FT-IR spectra of cpGRS showed no significant shifts in the key peaks, which indicates that there was an absence of chemical interactions within cpGRS. X-ray diffractograms also showed no significant changes, indicating that the GRS granules, calcium carbonate, and PVP K30 components remained unaltered during co-precipitation. cpGRS also demonstrated a dilution capacity of 50% when paracetamol was used as model drug. When cpGRS was combined with domperidone or propranolol hydrochloride it showed a better deformation capability than the physical mixtures. Although cpGRS was sensitive to lubricant, the hardness and tensile strength were higher than common strength for general purpose use in tablets. When compared to the physical mixture, pregelatinized starch and directly compressible calcium carbonate, the results showed that cpGRS tablets of both model drugs passed the friability test, demonstrated the best disintegration property, provided the fastest and highest drug release profile for propranolol, and improved the drug release profile for domperidone. For propranolol-cpGRS tablets, dissolution medium at different pH did not affect the dissolution profile. For domperidone-cpGRS tablets, the pH of dissolution medium did affect the dissolution profile of the tablets. This was according to the API solubility. These results reveal that cpGRS is an excellent multifunctional i.e., filler, binder, and disintegrant excipient suitable for direct compression tablets. The main component is natural. The preparation method is simple, quick, and efficient. This method does not produce harmful waste and requires only basic equipment, and affordable reactants and devices.

Cold plasma technologies: Their effect on starch properties and industrial scale-up for starchmodification

Native starches have limited applications in the food industry due to their unreactive and insoluble nature. Cold plasma technology, including plasma-activated water (PAW), has been explored to modify starches to enhance their functional, thermal, molecular, morphological, and physicochemical properties. Atmospheric cold plasma and low-pressure plasma systems have been used to alter starches and have proven successful. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the different cold plasma setups employed for starch modifications. The effect of cold plasma technology application on starch characteristics is summarized. We also discussed the potential of plasma-activated water as a novel alternative for starch modification. This review provides information needed for the industrial scale-up of cold plasma technologies as an eco-friendly method of starch modification.

•

Cold plasma technology could be an effective, sustainable alternative for starch modification.

•

The extent of modification of starches from different botanical sources depends on the type of cold plasma technology used.

•

For mainstream adoption of cold plasma modified starches, research on safety and consumer perception must be conducted.

Temperature of plasma-activated water and its effect on the thermal and chemical surface properties of cereal and tuber starches

High amylose and waxy starches from maize and potato were incubated with plasma-activated water (PAW) at 25 °C, 60 °C, and 80 °C temperatures to investigate PAW treatment effects on the starches' properties. At 60 °C incubation temperature, the starches were basically annealed with PAW. Annealing starches with PAW significantly increased (p < 0.05) the gelatinization parameters except for the enthalpy of gelatinization of waxy potato starch. Furthermore, starch swelling power significantly decreased while the water absorption capacity and solubility increased significantly when incubated at 80 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed the oxidation of C–C/C–H and C–O into carboxyl groups in waxy and high amylose maize starches incubated with PAW at 60 °C and 80 °C, respectively. In addition, cross-linking was observed in waxy maize and high amylose potato incubated with PAW at 80 °C and 25 °C, respectively. Overall, the results indicated PAW temperature is an important factor in modifying cereals and tuber starches with PAW.

•

Maize and potato starches were treated with plasma-activated water (PAW).

•

Increasing the temperature of PAW improves the hydration properties of starch.

•

Gelatinization temperatures increased with an increase in the temperature of PAW.

[Advances in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Process Management -From Physical Pharmaceutics to Automatic Pharmaceutical Production]

Since entering graduate school 43 years ago, I have been studying physical pharmaceutics with a focus on the effects of environmental factors on pharmaceutical properties of solid oral dosage forms during the manufacturing process. I have reported on changes in the characteristics of pharmaceutical products during manufacturing processes, such as grinding, mixing, granulation, and tableting owing to complicated phenomena based on chemical reactions or the crystalline polymorphic transitions of bulk drugs and excipients. To develop modern pharmaceutical manufacturing processes based on process analysis technology (PAT) as a next generation good manufacturing practice, real-time monitoring was introduced in these processes using a non-destructive analytical method, such as the near-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics. Many case studies related to the mixing, granulation, tableting, and coating processes involving PAT have been reported. In those studies, I focused on clarifying the physical and chemical mechanism through "design space" representation. Additionally, non-destructive analytical methods, including X-ray computed tomography, audible acoustic emission, Raman spectroscopy, terahertz spectroscopy, and infrared thermal imaging analysis were applied as novel candidate analytical methods to the pharmaceutical process to monitor critical quality attributes. To achieve this purpose in various pharmaceutical dosage forms, I have been attempting the assembly of a modern manufacturing process managed through a "design space" paradigm involving in-line monitoring using novel analytical methods, multivariate analyses, and feed-back systems.

Cold plasma enhanced natural edible materials for future food packaging: structure and property of polysaccharides and proteins-based films

Natural edible films have recently gained a lot of interests in future food packaging. Polysaccharides and proteins in edible materials are not toxic and widely available, which have been confirmed as sustainable and green materials used for packaging films due to their good film-forming abilities. However, polysaccharides and proteins are hydrophilic in nature, they exhibit some undesirable material properties. Cold plasma (CP), as an innovative and highly efficient technology, has been introduced to improve the performance of polysaccharides and proteins-based films. This review mainly presents the basic information of polysaccharides and proteins-based films, principles of CP modified biopolymer films, and the effects of CP on the structural changes including surface morphology, surface composition, and bulk modification, and properties including wettability, mechanical properties, barrier properties, and thermal properties of polysaccharides, proteins, and polysaccharide/protein composite-based films. It is concluded that the CP modified performances are mainly depending on the polysaccharides and proteins raw materials, CP generation types and treatment conditions. The existing difficulties and future trends are also discussed. Despite natural materials currently not fully substitute for traditional plastic materials, CP has exhibited an effective solution to shape the future of natural materials for food packaging.

A new pre-gelatinized starch preparing by gelatinization and spray drying of rice starch with hydrocolloids

Rice starch with hydrocolloids (pectin, xanthan gum, sodium alginate or ι-carrageenan) was gelatinized and subsequently spray dried to prepare pre-gelatinized rice starch (PRS) with hydrocolloids (PRS-H). The PRS-H displayed concave granular shape with amorphous structure, indicating rice starch in PRS-H was completely gelatinized. Cold paste viscosity of PRS-H was enhanced in comparison with that of PRS. Especially, xanthan and ι-carrageenan increased cold paste viscosity of PRS-H more than pectin and alginate did. Cold paste viscosity of physically mixed PRS and hydrocolloids (PRS+H), and flow behavior of hydrocolloids themselves as well as gelatinized starch-hydrocolloids without spray drying (GRS-H) indicated interactions existed between starch and hydrocolloids during the preparation. Swelling power, water solubility index, and dynamic viscoelastic properties of PRS-H were also adjusted by different hydrocolloids. These results showed that premixing hydrocolloids with starch before gelatinization in method of spray drying would be a suitable methodology for manufacture PRS with altered properties.

Stabilizing Oil-in-Water Emulsion with Amorphous and Granular Octenyl Succinic Anhydride Modified Starches

The effects of pre-gelatinization on the capacity of amorphous and granular octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) starches as an emulsifier were compared. The full loss of the granular structure after gelatinization were confirmed by X-ray scattering measurements. The particle size of the emulsions prepared by granular starches with the degree of substitution of 0.021 and 0.045 was 717.8 and 391.5 nm, respectively, whereas it was only 307.2 and 283.9 nm of the amorphous OSA starch emulsions, respectively. Furthermore, after 30 days of storage, the particle size of granular OSA starch emulsions increased to 910.1 and 520.9 nm, respectively. However, this value only increased to 376.6 and 335.2 nm in emulsions stabilized with the amorphous OSA starch, respectively. These were attributed to an increased interfacial thickness, rate of interfacial adsorption, and compact packing on the surface, resulting from the flexible assembly behavior of amorphous starch chains compared to granular OSA. In addition, emulsions stabilized via amorphous OSA starches displayed a higher elastic moduli, indicating a greater number of interactions between starch chains and adjacent droplets.

Preparation of glutinous rice starch/polyvinyl alcohol copolymer electrospun fibers for using as a drug delivery carrier

Glutinous rice starch (GRS) is commonly produced in the Northeast of Thailand. GRS is a biopolymer which is widely used in the food industry but not yet commonly applied within the pharmaceutical industry as an alternative resource. GRS exhibits a branch chain structure which is not feasible to fabricate as nanofiber. Therefore, combining GRS with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in hybrid form can be a potential platform to produce GRS-PVA nanofibers. Smooth nanofibers of 2% (w/v) GRS combined with 8% (w/v) PVA were fabricated by an electrospinning process. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed an average diameter size of the GRS-PVA nanofibers equal to 191 ± 25 nm. A highly water soluble model drug, Chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM), was incorporated into the GRS-PVA electrospun fibers to prove a drug delivery carrier concept and drug release control of the nanofibers. The GRS-PVA nanofibers exhibited a biphasic CPM release in which approximately 60% of the drug immediately released in 10 min, and it reached 90% drug release in 120 min. This study demonstrated a potential application of GRS combining with PVA as an oral drug delivery carrier. Therefore, it can be a promised step that expands the application GRS in pharmaceuticals and related areas.

Physicochemical and structural properties of pregelatinized starch prepared by improved extrusion cooking technology

Pregelatinized starch was made from indica rice starch using a so-called "improved extrusion cooking technology" (IECT) under 30%-70% moisture content. IECT-pregelatinized starch (IPS) had higher water solubility and water absorbability compared to native starch at low temperature. For pasting properties, the breakdown and setback viscosities of IPS were significantly (p<0.05) lower than native starch, suggesting improved gel stability and reduced short-term retrogradation. The rice starch granules lost their integrity in IPS, and formed a honeycomb-like structure with increased moisture content in the raw material. These properties can be explained in terms of molecular structural features, particularly the large reduction in the size of molecules, but without significant changes in the chain-length distributions of amylopectin component, and no significant change in amylose fraction. These results indicate that IECT is suitable for preparing IPS with desirable water solubility and gel stability properties.

Preparation of Glutinous Rice Starch Nanofibers by Electrospinning

Glutinous rice starch (GRS) is produced from glutinous rice which is commonly cultivated in the Northeast of Thailand. GRS contains two types of glucose polymers which are amylose and amylopectin. Glutinous rice starch nanofibers (GNF) can be produced by an electrospinning technique. This is not a complicated method but needs a high voltage power supply. The aim of this study was to understand the production of GNF and physical-chemical properties of GNF. The morphology of GNF was examined by scanning electron microscopy. The characteristics of GNF are high porosity, flake multi-layers and a high swelling power. The Electrospinning technique did not change the chemical structure of GRS based on an FT-IR evaluation. This research revealed the basic characteristics of electrospun glutinous starch for use in various applications in the future.