ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of starch in the form of starch nanocrystals (SNC) and its characterization, properties, and applications in the food and biomedical fields. Nanobiotechnology and nanomaterials impact various aspects of pharmacology and the food system due to their improved physiochemical features, including enhanced surface-to-volume ratio, facile synthetic strategies, tunable size and shape, and better encapsulation and release profiles. Polymeric nanotherapy involves a physical approach to alter and improve the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of therapeutic formulations, thereby enhancing the efficiency of phytomedicines with minimum adverse effects. Both natural and synthetic polymer nanoparticles can be synthesized by following top-down methods like the single-emulsification method, the double-emulsion method, nanoprecipitation, salting-out, evaporation precipitation, and dialysis and electrospray methods. The modified SNCs are promising biomaterials due to their novelty and utilization in foods and food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, and also as various modified nanocomposites.
