ABSTRACT
In addition to being a major component of the human diet, starch constitutes an excellent raw material for modifying the texture and the consistency of foods because of its ability to form viscoelastic pastes or gels when heated in water. Furthermore, starch-derived products have long served in numerous nonfood applications, such as pharmaceuticals, textiles, alcohol-based fuels, and adhesives. New uses of starch are steadily emerging, including lowcalorie fat substitutes, "biodegradable" packaging materials, thin films, and thermoplastic materials with improved thermal and mechanical properties. Many of these food and industrial applications of starch rely largely on the colloidal properties of its two structurally distinct a-D-glucan components, amylose and amylopectin.
