ABSTRACT
Resistant starch has recently been defined as “…the sum of starch and products of starch degradation not absorbed in the small intestine of healthy individuals” (1). An analytical method for RS should then take into account all the starch and α-dextrins covering this physiological definition. Furthermore, it should be validated using in vivo data from human healthy subjects. The general principle of the method is the following: 1) the samples are digested by a pancreatic α-amylase then 2) resistant starch content is determined by direct analysis of the residual starch after hydrolysis or by substracting to the total starch of the sample, the amount of starch which has been digested. None of the “European methods” (Englyst et al., 1992, Bjôrck et al., 1986, Champ, 1992, Faisant et al., 1995) are exempt of criticism. Moreover, none of them are able to analyze resistant starch as defined because they do not consider potentially digestible starch arriving at the end of the ileum. The last two methods appeared to be more quickly and easily reproduced than Englyst’s method. However Englyst’s method is the only one which has been validated in vivo on humans. Besides these European meth-ods, Muir and O’Dea (1992, 1993) developed another procedure, validated in vivo, that is supposed to mimic physiological conditions for starch digestion.
