Prof Didah Nur Faridah Reveals the Development of Local Tuber Resistant Starch which is Rich in Health Benefits

Professor of IPB University, Prof Didah Nur Faridah revealed that the development of local tuber resistant starch for functional food ingredients is good for health. Resistant starch (RS) according to Prof. Didah can be used as a functional food ingredient which has many benefits. She conveyed this at the online IPB University Professorial Pre Oration Press Conference, Wednesday (22/6).

“The benefits of RS include reducing the risk of colon cancer, having hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic effects, as a prebiotic, reducing the risk of gallstone formation, inhibiting fat accumulation, increasing mineral absorption and low caloric value,” she said.

Starch modification research has been carried out since 2008 until now. In her research, Prof Didah used samples of arrowroot starch, daluga, cassava, corn, taro and Rice.

“Rice cooked with the addition of resistant starch can reduce the value of the glycemic index (GI) by 14 percent. Other applications for bread, sponge cake and biscuits and low-fat cheese, can reduce fat content by up to 50 percent. The advantage of resistant starch is its stability at high temperatures so that it can be applied to products that are fried or baked,” she explained.

She further explained, there are five types of RS namely RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4 and RS5. RS1 is starch that cannot be hydrolyzed by digestive enzymes due to physical barriers (in plant cells). RS2 or native starch is naturally resistant to digestive enzymes (α-amylase).

“As for RS3, starch is retrograded, namely starch that has been heated, gelatinized and cooled. Type RS3 is mostly found in rice or bread that has been stored cold and becomes hard. While RS4 is starch as a result of chemical modification and RS5 is a starch complex in the form of amylose-lipid,” she explained.

Prof Didah said that RS3 is a resistant starch which is widely used as a functional food raw material. The results of her research showed that the highest increase in RS3 levels, reaching 18 times, occurred in arrowroot starch samples (from 2.12 percent to 39.3 percent), almost close to the levels of commercial resistant starch.

“Regarding the digestibility of resistant starch, cookies made from modified arrowroot starch have lower starch digestibility and glycemic index than those made from wheat. Starch digestibility decreased with increasing levels of RS. This characteristic is very necessary in the process of making food products for diabetics or people who want a low-calorie diet,” she said.

Prof Didah also reviewed the modification techniques that can be made to produce RS3, including repeated heating-cooling processes (autoclaving-cooling), heat moisture treatment (HMT) and annealing. All of these techniques use heating.

“The challenge going forward is to find local sources of carbohydrates with appropriate modified techniques to produce resistant starch as a functional food ingredient with low production costs,” she concluded. (dh/Rz) (IAAS/SHY)