Influence of acyl chain lengths in mono- and diacyl-sn-glycerophosphatidylcholine on gelatinization and retrogradation of starch.

The influence of starch with 1- or 2-monoacyl-sn-glycerophosphatidylcholine (GPC) having various chain lengths of fatty acids on gelatinization and retrogradation of starch was studied by the measurement of starch-GPC complex formation, complexing index, and differential scanning calorimetry. The addition of GPC to the starch sample slightly increased the blue value and lambda(max) with increasing chain length of GPC but decreased the phosphorus content and complexing index. The gelatinization onset and peak temperatures of starch complexes increased significantly with increasing chain length, but the enthalpies were statistically lower, except for the treatment with 1,2-distearoyl-sn-GPC when compared with that of the control. Among GPC (di and mono), 1- and 2-monomyristoyl-sn-GPC showed the highest complexing ability, whereas the complexing ability of the GPC decreased with the increasing chain length. According to the Avrami equation, the retrogradation rate (k, day(-1)) of starch was slower than that of the control, whereas the retrogradation rates of 1- and 2-monomyristoyl-sn-GPC were slowest among the GPCs. The positive linear relationship between k and the number of acyl groups of GPC suggests that a GPC with a shorter chain length could retard the retrogradation of starch during storage.