Frontiers in Carbohydrates
The structures of carbohydrates can be engineered using genetic, enzymatic, chemical, and physical methodologies for improved food quality. For example, glucan nanoparticles are used to protect and deliver bioactive compounds, starch biosynthesis is quantitatively modeled to guide plant engineering, and specialty flours are created to address consumer needs.
On Monday morning from 8:30–10:00 am in Room 291, Session 119 Frontiers in Carbohydrate Design for Food will review recent advances in designing carbohydrates for food and food-related applications. Carbohydrates constitute a primary portion of the food matrix and contribute to food functionality and health benefits. Participants will learn novel carbohydrate materials that may have profound impacts on food.
Speaker John Leighton, Corn Products Intl., will present recent advances in functional flour ingredients. By utilizing traditional hybrid breeding in combination with specific physical processing techniques, flours with functionality in foods (e.g., process tolerance, storage stability, etc.) approaching that traditionally associated with specialty starch ingredients can be prepared. Along with processing, storage, and label benefits, the flours can provide discernable texture nuances in foods. Leighton will also discuss flours with enhanced fiber and resistant starch content.
Presenter Yuan Yao, Purdue Univ., will discuss transforming plant-based alpha-D-glucans to functional nanoparticles. These dendrimer-like carbohydrate nanoparticles are partially digestible and can be used to form tunable colloidal assemblies through conventional food processing procedures. A primary application of these assemblies is to protect and control the delivery of bioactive compounds, such as lipophilic compounds and antimicrobial peptides.
Speaker Kevin Edgar, Va. Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., will present research on derivatives of abundant, renewable, and non-toxic polysaccharides, which are suitable, when properly designed, for forming miscible blends with the most important bioactive dietary flavonoids. Edgar will report work on making amorphous matrix dispersions of important dietary flavonoids in polysaccharide derivative matrices, and the solubility enhancement that result.
Researcher Robert Gilbert, Univ. of Queensland, will discuss a new quantitative description of the underlying biosynthetic processes controlling the structure of starch.
