Amylose–lipid complex production and potential health benefits: A mini‐review

Amylose–lipid complexes (ALCs) are classified as resistant starch types III or V. This paper reviews the ALCs production methods and health benefits and provides an outlook of the future. ALCs can be produced in the lab to obtain pure compounds; lipids (mostly fatty acids or monoacyl glycerol) are added to starch and heat‐processed in excess water by extrusion cooking or steam‐jet cooking to produce the starch–lipid complexes. However, information concerning the occurrence of ALCs in foods such as cereals and root‐based porridges is limited. ALCs include the portion of starch that resists digestion by human pancreatic amylase in the small intestine and thus reaches the colon to be fermented by gut microbes. ALCs are of great nutritional interest because it may have physiological effects similar to dietary fibre. The regular consumption of foods containing ALCs has been shown to reduce blood glucose levels in humans and the proliferation of colon cancer in rats. ALCs are a potential fat replacement in food and can encapsulate bioactive compounds with fatty acid esters.