Resistant starch

Potato tubers are rich in starch providing an easily accessible source for dietary sugar. It practically gives you a sugar kick. However, recent plant technology permits us to make the potato accumulate healthy starch that is more slowly metabolised. This kind of starch is called resistant or slow starch. It has qualities reminiscent of fibres; among other things it protects against colitis and maybe even cancer, because it furthers growth of healthy bacteria in the intestine.

 

This starch can also be used for new materials such as paper and edible packing. We can produce potatoes that have very long sugar chains, amylose, with much phosphate on the chains. This type of starch can be plasticized and it forms rather hard but still compostable materials. And it is still perfectly edible, even healthy.

 

More info: contact Associate Professor Andreas Blennow