The Potential of Resistant Starch Type 1 for Nutritional Food Security

Abstract

The current and looming challenges of food safety and food security need an approach that involves expertise from a combination of different disciplines to effectively tackle the issues associated with them. This is because food security has diverse areas, and research in all of these areas are important, and would make a meaningful contribution to providing the required solutions to the problem. The food chain from “farm to fork” involves a series of activities, which include harvesting, transportation, processing, preparation, and consumption. For proper health benefits derivable from any food product to be maximised, the steps of food processing and/or preparation become critical due to the loss of nutrients during processing. Carbohydrates are not usually considered as part of nutrients lost during heat processing like other nutrients such as vitamins and proteins, however, considerable losses to nutritionally important complex carbohydrates such as dietary fibre and resistant starch occur during grinding and milling. Resistant starch type 1 (RS1) in foods is a valuable food ingredient that can help reduce diabetes, obesity, and other non-communicable diseases and improve food and nutrition security if its benefits are properly annexed. This chapter aims to draw attention to the usefulness of resistant starch in foods (particularly resistant starch type 1) and proffers ways by which resistant starch can be protected during processing, which will enhance functional food and nutrition security. Economic benefits of resistant starch in foods are also highlighted.