The sharing and eating of food is one of life’s greatest pleasures and a part of our social fabric. At the same time, all of us know that if we are going to live longer, healthier, more productive lives, we have to begin to take greater care of what we eat.  Almost anyone will tell you that it is their goal to eat healthier. But, when it comes down to making those all important choices, taste, texture and convenience are still the most important characteristics of foods that win with consumers. 

Fortunately, the modern food manufacturing industry is beginning to develop solutions that respond both to our desire for pleasure and our need for healthier eating. Resistant starch is one of the newest developments in this area and it has an excellent opportunity to take its place in great tasting foods that please the senses.

Because they are functional, resistant starches have the opportunity to do more than improve health – they can enhance the experience we have when we eat. Resistant starches are “invisible” in foods, meaning that they won’t affect taste and texture like other insoluble fiber sources often do.

In addition, they offer special functional properties that yield high quality foods.  Resistant starch is especially appropriate for grain-based low and moderate moisture foods.  It is commonly used for flour replacement.  Its physical properties, particularly its low-water-holding capacity, enable it to provide good food processing characteristics and desirable textural attributes (such as crispness and expansion) when compared to foods of similar fiber content.