A PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF CHICK PEA STARCH RESISTANT TO DIGESTION IN THE HUMAN SMALL-INTESTINE

The digestibility of a retrograded starch gel in the human small intes tine was assessed in an ileostomist model. The resistant product was c haracterized by size-exclusion chromatography and X-ray diffraction. C arbohydrate from mucin and starch in the effluent was identified by mo nosaccharide analysis. The resistant starch contained molecules with a wide range of molecular weights. A major fraction consisted of fragme nts of amylose with an average degree of polymerization of 70-80. The resistant product was partially crystalline, giving a wide-angle powde r diffraction pattern typical of the B-type crystalline polymorph of s tarch. The resistant product obtained in vivo was comparable with the product that was resistant in vitro.