Starches are very important to humans. They are a crucial carbohydrate - in fact, the kind that people need the most in their diets.
A starch, or amylum, contains glucose units that have glycosidic bonds to keep them together. It is a polysaccharide carbohydrate, because it is made up of sugar molecules.
Green plants produce starch for their energy stores. Potatoes, corn and wheat are examples of starchy foods, as well as bread, pasta, rice, cereal, beans, lentils and yams.
Once consumed, enzymes break down starches into glucose, which can then be used as energy.
While eating starch is healthy for all people, diabetics especially can benefit from having some with every meal.
The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse identifies a small potato, a slice of bread or three-quarters of a cup of dry cereal flakes as one serving of starch.
One co-product of starch derivatives is sweeteners.
S K Patil and Associates has released data about physically modified starches, which are designed to be better suited to processing, though otherwise similar to chemically modified starches that are used as food ingredients.
According to the study, these sorts of starches are the most promising for growth within the industry.
In addition, another possible benefit of them is their potential to produce foods that satisfy consumer demand for more exotic-seeming products.
More data from S K Patil and Associates demonstrates that in the US, the corn processing sector has undergone a number of developments. Corn ethanol production and co-products saw a significant increase between 2003 and 2007.
