Insight into the mechanism of digestibility inhibition by interaction between corn starch with different gelatinization degree and water extractable arabinoxylan.

On the basis of revealing the interaction mechanism between corn starch (CS) and water-extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) with high/low molecular weight (H-WEAX, L-WEAX), the degree of gelatinization (DG) on structural behaviors and in vitro digestibility of CS-WEAX complexes (CS/H, CS/L) was evaluated. With the increased DG from 50 % to 95 %, the water adsorption capacity of CS/L was increased 64 %, 58 %, 47 %, which were higher than that of CS/H (39 %, 54 %, 33 %). The gelatinization of starch was inhibited by WEAX, resulting in the enhancement of crystallinity, short-range ordered structure and molecular size of CS-WEAX complexes. Stronger interaction was detected in CS/L than with CS/H as proved by the increased hydrogen bonds and electrostatic force. Complexes exhibited higher resistant starch content (RS) at diverse DG, especially for CS/L. Notability, RS content of samples with 50 % DG were increased from 27.72 % to 32.89 % (CS/H), 36.96 % (CS/L). Except for the reduction of gelatinization degree by adding WEAX, the other possible mechanisms of retarding digestibility were explained as the small steric hindrance of L-WEAX promoted encapsulation of starch granules, limiting enzyme accessibility. Additionally, the fragmentation of CS granules with high DG promoted the movement of H-WEAX, reducing the difference in digestibility compared to CS/L.