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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Analysis and Specification of Starch Granule Size Distributions
Published on: March 4, 2021
The importance of amylopectin molecular size in determining the viscoelasticity of rice starch gels
Hongyan Li1, Ningyu Lei1, Shu Yan1
1Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, China-Canada Joint Lab of Food Nutrition and Health (Beijing), Beijing Engineering and Technology Research Center of Food Additives, Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU), 11 Fucheng Road, Beijing 100048, China.
Abstract:
Amylose content as the key indicator in determining the viscoelasticity of starch gels has been widely accepted. In this study, 7 rice varieties are deliberately selected to investigate the structural basis of gel viscoelasticity of starches with similar amylose content. By quantifying starch molecular structure and rheological properties of starch gels, we find (i) starch with similar amylose content forms significantly different gel networks in terms of K*, n* and tan δ; (ii) molecular sizes of rice starches are significantly different between samples; (iii) the chain-length distributions (CLDs) of both amylopectin and amylose are parameterized by mathematic model fitting, and no large variations of these fitted parameters between samples are observed; (iv) amylopectin size are negatively correlated with K* (p < 0.01) while positively correlated with tan δ (p < 0.05). Molecular mechanisms are put forward to explain the role of amylopectin size in contributing to the strength of gel network.
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