Debranching facilitates malate esterification of waxy maize starch and decreases the digestibility

In this study, the debranching followed by malate esterification was employed to prepare malate debranched waxy maize starch (MA-DBS) with a high degree of substitution (DS) and low digestibility using malate waxy maize starch (MA-WMS) as the control. The optimal esterification conditions were obtained using an orthogonal experiment. Under this condition, the DS of MA-DBS (0.866) was much higher than that of MA-WMS (0.523). A new absorption peak was generated at 1757 cm^-1 in the infrared spectra, indicating the occurrence of malate esterification. Compared with MA-WMS, MA-DBS had more particle aggregation, resulting in an increase in the average particle size from scanning electron microscopy and particle size analysis. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the relative crystallinity decreased after malate esterification, in which the crystalline structure of MA-DBS almost disappeared, which was consistent with the decrease of decomposition temperature by thermogravimetric analysis and the disappearance of the endothermic peak by differential scanning calorimeter. In vitro digestibility tests showed an order: WMS > DBS > MA-WMS > MA-DBS. The MA-DBS showed the highest content of resistant starch (RS) of 95.77 % and the lowest estimated glycemic index of 42.27. In a word, pullulanase debranching could produce more short amylose, promoting malate esterification and improving the DS. The presence of more malate groups inhibited the formation of starch crystals, increased particle aggregation, and enhanced resistance to enzymolysis. The present study provides a novel protocol for producing modified starch with higher RS content, which has potential application in functional foods with a low glycemic index.