Effects of psyllium fiber on in vitro digestion and structure of different types of starches

Background: Starch digestibility in foods strongly depends on the structure, other ingredients and processing conditions used. This study aimed to investigate the effect of psyllium fiber on gelatinization, crystallinity and in vitro digestibility of starches having different crystalline structures (A, B and C). Wheat, potato and tapioca starches with and without added psyllium fiber were heated at 90 °C for 10 min at three different solid:water (w:v) ratios (1:1, 1:2 and 1:5). The added fiber content was 50% (dry base) in the solid fraction for the fiber-added samples.

Results: Wheat, potato and tapioca starches showed different structural, morphological and starch digestibility properties. The effect of cooking and fiber addition on starch digestion differed for the starch types, mainly wheat starch. Psyllium addition during cooking decreased the rapidly digestible starch (RDS) fractions while increasing the slowly digestible starch (SDS) and remaining/resistant starch (RS) fractions. The effect of psyllium fiber addition was not limited to restricting the swelling and gelatinization of starch granules during heating. Psyllium fiber effectively restricted the mobility of digestive enzymes during digestion.

Conclusion: Understanding the relationship between psyllium and starch digestibility for different types of starch could assist in designing food formulations with lower starch digestibility. These in vitro data, however, should be confirmed by in vivo studies. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.