In vitro digestion and faecal fermentation of starch-lipid complexes with distinct crystalline forms prepared by...

Complexes were prepared between maize starch (MS) and lauric acid (LA) by extrusion-cooking and the in vitro digestion and fermentation properties of complexes containing only V_I-type or V_II-type crystallites were investigated. The formation and structure of complexes were largely dependent on the parameters of extrusion conditions. Under certain extrusion conditions, MS-LA complexes with only V_I-type or V_II-type crystallites were prepared. In vitro enzymatic digestion showed that MS-LA complexes, especially the V_II-type complex, had lower susceptibility to amylolysis than the corresponding extruded MS. In vitro fermentation of complexes residues after digestion led to altered microbial communities and production of greater amounts of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) compared to the corresponding extruded starches and fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS). Notably, more SCFAs (particularly butyrate) were generated by fermentation of V_II-type complexes than by fermentation of V_I-type complexes, which was explained as being due to the greater growth of the SCFA-producing bacteria Megasphaera, Blautia, Agathobacter and Subdoligranulum. This study clearly showed that starch-lipid complexes with different crystalline forms can be prepared by extrusion-cooking, and that the more ordered V_II-type complexes had the potentially better prebiotic functions than the less ordered V_I-type complexes.