Food Hydrocolloids 149 (2024) 109612
2
This could be attributed to the conversion of proteins into smaller
molecules, which facilitated the non-covalent interactions between
protein and starch (L´
opez-Bar´
on et al., 2018). Hence, it is plausible to
hypothesize that peptides play a unique role in inhibiting starch gela-
tinization. However, disparate impacts on other starch properties have
been reported between various peptides. Garlic peptides signicantly
reduced the loss modulus and storage modulus of starch (Xie et al.,
2023), whereas glutathione had minimal inuence on starch viscoelas-
ticity (Guo et al., 2020). Soybean peptides and garlic peptides showed
opposite effects on the ordered structure of starch (Chen et al., 2019; Xie
et al., 2023). Currently, there is still a scarcity of research concerning the
impact of peptides on starch processing and structural properties, with
no research addressing the inuence of FCP. To facilitate the widespread
application of FCP in starchy food, it is imperative to prioritize the
comprehensive understanding of its impact on starch.
Nutritionally, starch is classied into rapidly digestible starch (RDS),
slowly digestible starch (SDS), and resistant starch (RS) (Englyst, King-
man, & Cummings, 1992). Long-term intake of foods rich in RDS in-
creases the risk of metabolic syndromes such as obesity, type II diabetes,
and cardiovascular diseases (Ludwig, 2002). Food peptides have been
reported to suppress the rapid digestion of starch (Chen et al., 2021; Lu,
Ma, Zhan, Jin, & Tian, 2022; Tang et al., 2023). Soybean peptides
effectively decreased the RDS content and increased the RS content of
ungelatinized corn starch and potato starch. And this inhibition effect
was further strengthened after starch gelatinization (Chen et al., 2019).
Glutathione signicantly reduced the SDS content and increased the RS
content of wheat starch (Tang et al., 2023). With the decrease in mo-
lecular weight and increase in the amount, rice peptides possessed a
stronger ability to inhibit rice starch digestion (Lu et al., 2022). There-
fore, FCP may also have the potential to improve the nutritional value of
starchy food by alleviating the digestion rate of starch.
This study aimed to investigate the impact of FCP on WS gelatini-
zation and evaluated accompanying processing and nutritional proper-
ties alterations of starch. A combination of rapid visco analyzer (RVA),
differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), low eld nuclear magnetic
resonance (LF-NMR), and inverted uorescence microscope was utilized
to evaluate the impact of FCP on starch gelatinization and reveal the
underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, rheometer, Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were
employed to understand the rheological and structural alteration of WS.
Nutritional fractions of starch were evaluated through in vitro simulated
gastrointestinal digestion. These investigations will serve as a funda-
mental basis for the application of FCP in starchy food products and
encourage in-depth research on peptide fortiers.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
WS used in this study was provided by Xinxiang Liangrun Whole
Grain Food Co., Ltd (Xinxiang, Henan, China). It contained 87.34%
starch, 0.27% protein, 0.62% fat, 0.22% ash, and 11.32% moisture (w/
w). FCP (extracted from sh skin) was purchased from Xi’an Weite
Biological Technology Co., Ltd (Xi’an, Shaanxi, China) with an average
molecular weight of 7090 Da and zeta potential of −8.51 mV. It had a
composition of 98.68% protein, 0.03% fat, 0.35% ash, and 6.72%
moisture (w/w). Pepsin (P7000, ≥250 U/mg), pancreatin from porcine
pancreas (P7545,
α
-amylase ≥200 U/mg, protease ≥200 U/mg, and
lipase ≥16 U/mg), amyloglucosidase (A7095, ≥260U/mL), rhodamine
B, and uorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) were purchased from Sigma-
Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Glucose kits for measuring the produc-
tion of glucose during starch digestion were procured from Shanghai
Rongsheng Bio-pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). Other
chemicals used in the study were of analytical grade and were obtained
from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China).
2.2. Sample preparation
Sample preparation refers to our previous research (Zhang et al.,
2023). WS (5 g) was mixed with 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1.25, 2.5, or 5 g FCP to
make the peptide mass of 0, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100% starch mass. The
mixtures with 50 mL deionized water were agitated for 20 min to ac-
quire sufcient dispersion. Then the suspensions were subjected to heat
treatment in a water bath at 95 ◦C for 30 min. In preparation for XRD
and FTIR analysis, WS and FCP-WS pastes underwent freeze-drying
using an Alpha1-4LD plus freeze dryer (Martin Christ, Osterode, Ger-
many) for a duration of 48 h. For the in vitro starch digestion experiment,
the mass of WS was 500 mg with the same amount of FCP and water
ratios aforementioned.
2.3. Pasting properties
A rapid visco analyzer (RVA-5400, Perten, Australia) was used to
evaluate the impact of FCP on the pasting property of WS. In an
aluminum cylinder, 2.5 g of WS, the corresponding proportions of FCP,
and 25.0 g of deionized water were thoroughly mixed. The test pro-
cedure employed in this study followed the methodology described in
our previous research (Zhang et al., 2023). After being held at 50 ◦C for
1 min, mixtures were heated to 95 ◦C and maintained at 95 ◦C for 2.5
min, then cooled to 50 ◦C and kept at 50 ◦C for 2 min. The uniform rate
of heating and cooling was 12 ◦C/min and the rotation speed was 160
rpm throughout the testing process. Peak viscosity (PV, cP), through
viscosity (TV, cP), nal viscosity (FV, cP), breakdown viscosity (BD, cP),
and setback viscosity (SB, cP) were recorded.
2.4. Thermal properties
The impact of FCP on WS thermal properties was measured by a
differential scanning calorimeter (DSC8500, PerkinElmer, Waltham,
Massachusetts, USA) (Gałkowska & Juszczak, 2019). The equipment
was calibrated with indium and an empty aluminum pan (PerkinElmer,
Waltham, Massachusetts, USA) as a reference. WS (4 mg) with corre-
sponding proportions of FCP and 12
μ
L deionized water was weighed in
an aluminum pan and hermetically sealed. Samples were equilibrated at
room temperature overnight, followed by scanning from 25 ◦C to 95 ◦C
at a rate of 12 ◦C/min. Onset temperatures (T
O
, ◦C), peak temperatures
(T
P
, ◦C), and conclusion temperatures (T
C
, ◦C) were recorded. Enthalpy
change (ΔH, J/g) was calculated based on the mass of dry WS.
2.5. Water mobility
The water mobility of WS and FCP-WS pastes was determined by an
LF-NMR analyzer (MesoMR23-060 V–I, Niumag Co., Ltd., Suzhou,
China) (Zhang, Sun, Wang, Wang, & Zhou, 2020). Balance samples were
carefully placed in a glass bottle and securely sealed. The
Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) sequence was employed to detect
the transverse relaxation time (T
2
) of starch pastes: the 90◦–180◦pulse
spacing of 0.8 ms, the collected echoes number of 6000, and the scans
number of 8.
2.6. Micromorphology imaging
Fluorescence and brighteld imaging of WS and FCP-WS pastes were
observed using an inverted uorescence microscope (DMIL, Leica
Microsystems Inc., Wetzlar, Germany) (Yang, Zhong, Douglas Goff, & Li,
2019). Freshly prepared pastes were uniformly spread onto slides and
subsequently stained with FITC (0.25% w/v) and rhodamine B (0.025%
w/v) for 10 min. Excess dyes were gently washed away using deionized
water, and samples were then sealed with cover glasses. All images were
captured and analyzed by the Leica Application Suite X Microscope
Software.
S. Zhang et al.