Characterization of Starches From Pueraria lobata and Pueraria thomsonii: Structural and Physicochemical Properties and Comparison With Commercial Starches.

Background: The Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi and Pueraria thomsonii Benth. are widely distributed and considered medicinal and edible plants in China. To explore the potential use in the food and nonfood industry, the structural and physicochemical properties of Pueraria starches were studied, which included the composition, morphology and size distributions, crystal structure, freeze-thaw stability, and in vitro digestion. Results: The results indicated that Pueraria starches showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) amylose content and smaller average particle size D[3, 4] than commercial starches. The degree of crystallinity of KS, PBS1, and PBS2, characterized by C-type diffraction patterns, was 28.27%, 24.97%, and 25.14%, respectively. PBS1 and PBS2 had higher paste temperatures than KS. The significantly higher (p < 0.05) water binding capacity was observed in PBS2 and KS at 99.87% and 98.64%, respectively. PBS1 demonstrated the highest oil binding capacity but lower freeze-thaw stability compared to KS and PBS2. KS exhibited a high RDS content (90.85%) and low SDS and RS contents (3.26% and 5.89%, respectively). PBS1 had the highest RS content (11.26%). Conclusions: This research establishes a theoretical foundation for developing Pueraria starch resources in both food and nonfood industry applications.