New insight into the interactions among starch, lipid and protein in model systems with different starches

The interactions of four starches-waxy maize starch (WMS), non-waxy maize starch (MS), potato starch (PS), wheat starch (WS)-with lauric acid (LA) and β-lactoglobulin (βLG) were investigated. Analysis of mixtures in the Rapid Visco Analyser (RVA) showed that the MS-LA and WS-LA systems presented a viscosity peak during the cooling and holding stages of the profile, PS-LA system showed only an increase in the final viscosity, whereas WMS-LA system displayed no obvious changes during the RVA cooling and holding stages. Structural analyses showed that wheat and maize starches formed more crystalline complexes with LA than potato starch, whereas no complexes were formed between WMS and LA. The addition of βLG increased the final viscosity of all starch-LA systems, with the most obvious increase observed for PS-LA systems. Structural analyses showed that the addition of βLG promoted the formation of starch-LA complexes, even for the WMS-LA system. From this study, it can be concluded that the nature of the starch affects the formation of starch-lipid complexes, and that these effects can be modified by βLG, which promotes the formation of starch-lipid complexes.