Improvement of maize starch-lauric acid complexes by plasma pretreatment: Formation, structure, properties and its related mechanisms.

Starch-lipid complexes have attracted widespread attention owing to high anti-digestibility and thermal stability. However, methods to increase the content of starch-lipid complexes are limited. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) treatment for different times (0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 min) on the formation and structure of complexes between maize starch (MS) and lauric acid (LA). The results showed that the amylose content of MS increased from 18.44 % to 31.01 % after ACP treatment. Moreover, structural characterization of complexes revealed that short-term ACP treatment (1 min) favored the formation of MS-LA complexes, resulting in a better V-type crystalline structure (14.90 %) and short-range ordered structure (0.793) with higher thermal stability (4.47 J/g) and no obvious morphological differences. In addition, the resistant starch content of MS-LA complexes increased from 30 % to 33 % in MS treated with ACP for 1 min. This may be because the active substances in ACP depolymerized starch, destroyed α-1,6 glycosidic bonds, broke branch chains, and increased amylose content, which promoted the formation of complexes to a certain extent. This study proposes a method to promote the formation of starch-lipid complexes, broadening potential application of complexes in low-GI food, stabilizer, and microcapsule carrier.