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Characterizing Starch Molecular Structure of Rice

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Book cover Rice Grain Quality

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1892))

Abstract

A better understanding of the nutritional properties of rice starch is important because of the rapid rise of diet-related health complications, particularly obesity, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancers. Rice starch that is slowly digested to glucose, and where significant quantities of starch which reach the lower gut (“resistant starch”), can mitigate, and also delay the onset of, these diseases. These digestibility properties depend to some extent on starch molecular structure. The characterization of this structure is therefore significant for understanding and developing healthier slower digestible rice. In this chapter, a series of techniques used for characterizing starch structure are reviewed and the procedure for preparing rice starch samples with minimum degradation for characterizing starch chain length distribution (CLD) and overall molecular structure is given. Some methods for choosing or developing plants showing desirable structural characteristics are briefly summarized.

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Acknowledgments

Robert G. Gilbert greatly appreciates the support of the Chinese Government’s 1000 Talents program of the State Foreign Experts Bureau.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety of Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

    Cheng Li & Robert G. Gilbert

  2. School of Food and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing, China

    Hongyan Li

  3. Centre for Nutrition & Food Sciences, QAAFI, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Robert G. Gilbert

Authors
  1. Cheng Li
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  2. Hongyan Li
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  3. Robert G. Gilbert
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert G. Gilbert .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Grain Quality and Nutrition Center, International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines

    Nese Sreenivasulu

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Li, C., Li, H., Gilbert, R.G. (2019). Characterizing Starch Molecular Structure of Rice. In: Sreenivasulu, N. (eds) Rice Grain Quality. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1892. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8914-0_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8914-0_10

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-8912-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-8914-0

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