Influence of high-amylose maize starch addition on in vitro starch digestibility and sensory characteristics of cookies

One of the current tendencies in nutrition is to support the consumption of slowly digestible cereal-based foods with appreciable resistant starch (RS) content. Therefore, experimental cookies were formulated with normal amylose white wheat flour (NAWW) and increasing levels of high-amylose maize starch flour (HAMS) represented by substitution ratio of 0, 25 and 50% on a total flour (NAWWþHAMS) basis. Chemical composition, in vitro starch digestibility and sensory evaluation were investigated. Dietary fibre and total starch increased (p<0.05) when the level of HAMS increased in the recipe for cookies. Both RS and slowly digestible starch (SDS) increased (p<0.05), whereas rapidly digestible starch (RDS) fraction decreased (p<0.05) when the level of HAMS increased in the formulation. The rate of starch hydrolysis (k) and the predicted glycaemic index (pGI) decreased (p<0.05) when the HAMS increased in the composite, whereas no difference was reported in the sensory profile and in the overall acceptability of cookies. The higher levels of SDS and RS along with the lower RDS, pGI and k values indicated that the substitution of NAWW with HAMS contributed to formulate cookies with favourably SDS properties without affecting selected sensory characteristics.