Starch nutritional quality: beyond intraluminal digestion in response to current trends

Starch plays a major structural role in many foods and it is responsible for a large portion of daily dietary caloric intake. However, the stress on the body caused by the high demand for insulin after high-glycemic starch-rich meals is a major contributor in the development of type-2 diabetes. Recently, positive benefits from the consumption of indigestible starch and a slow glucose release from starchy foods have emerged. However, further harmonized metrics considering foods as complex matrices of nutrients, ingredients, and processing characteristics are still needed for the complete depiction of starch nutritional quality and its effect on human health. This review expands on potential metrics for starch nutritional quality and the importance of harmonized and simple in vitro starch digestion models, and highlights opportunities for minimally processed foods, breeding and gene editing, and food by-products based on consumer’s expectations for climate friendly ingredients and individual variation in metabolic responses.