Starch: How Much Of It Is Important In Our Daily Meals

STARCH:  HOW MUCH OF IT IS IMPORTANT IN OUR DAILY MEALS?

Energy yielding; Body building; Protection & regulation; and maintenance of health these four basic aim accomplishes when we eat food every day. Variety foods are there in our daily meals but more than 60 % were rich in starch granules.

Chemistry says pure starch is a white, tasteless and odorless powder that is insoluble in cold water or alcohol.

Biochemistry says ‘Starch’(C₆H₁₀O₅)n is a plant polysaccharide stored in grains, legumes, tubers like potato etc.15 to 35 % of starch molecules consists of unbranched molecules of alpha-amylose; branched molecules of amylopectin constitute 65-85% of starch.

How it is present in our Diet:

The rich source of starch present in our diets are Rice, Wheat, Maize, Potato, Vegetables, Fruits, etc foods of plant origin.

The prepared foods, starch is also very common like bread, pancakes, noodles, pasta, porridge etc these are nothing but maximum consisting starch as food ingredients.

We also eat some sorts of indigestible starch which mainly escape our digestion but remains in our food. These are called the resistant starch.

Why our diet consists so much starch:

• As starch is the simplest form of carbohydrates and is easily digested by our digestive system to produce our daily energy requirements. Boiled starch is the common source of energy in our daily diet.
• Besides its capability of producing energy, our body utilizes it to form glycogen the energy reserves in the liver. It is mainly stored in muscle and in the liver to produce further energy while needed, immediately.
• To make this starch more digestible we processed food like from wheat we prepared bread, used fermentation to make starch more digestible than the raw wheat.
• Besides its energy production starch food in diet quantify how quick blood sugar may raise. Hence during hyperglycemic state like those having high blood sugar, are restricted to eat high starch containing food like potatoes.
• The resistant starch in our daily diet which mainly escape digestion but present inside our gut helps to survive the good microbes .not only that during its fermentation the short chain fatty acids are also produced and utilized by the body.
• The bad thing is, Intake of more starch may also increase the chances of obesity, as food are becoming more processed, they were more easily digested and released more glucose I the small intestine less of starch granules reached the large intestine and thus more energy was absorbed in our body. This change in energy delivery is one such contributing factors of causing Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity. That is why junk food or processed food are advised to be restricted as it consists the most digestible starch compounds and can lead to Metabolic Syndromes.

Eat complexed starch or unprocessed starch more than the processed one, add plenty of vegetables into your daily diet so that more resistant starch will be present and longer time will take during digestion. It will help to raise blood sugar slowly and helps to prevent the occurrence of such chronic diseases like Metabolic Syndrome.