Production of porous corn starch granule by enzymatic method and entrapment of Iron

Porous corn starch granules (PSG) were produced enzymatically by treating corn starch with α-amylase (AM) and amyloglucosidase (AMG) at varying enzyme ratios and reaction times. Use of only amyloglucosidase was adjudged to have negative correlation with PSG yield. However, corn starch treated at an amylase and amyloglucosidase ratio of 1.5: 1, with a reaction time of 6 h, led to a large pore size with improved functionality in terms of water absorption capacity (134.72%) and solubility index (6.16 g/g)]. Further, iron was loaded into the porous starch granules, followed by sealing the pores with pregelatinized starch. In the loaded and sealed PSG, 0.97 mg Iron/g PSG was obtained, which showed controlled release behaviour as noticed in in-vitro digestibility study.