LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX SIMULATED FLOUR FORMULATION FROM RETROGRADED FOX NUT (Euryale ferox) STARCH.

Fox Nut (Euryale ferox) or Gorgon Nut, popularly referred to as Makhana, has been wide employed in traditional foods to cure kind of health diseases associated to blood glucose. Based on the studies saying lower glycemic index (GI) of it, we sought to determine if Fox Nut really has a low GI and whether it can be further lowered by giving treatments and by use of gluten(protein) and Guar gum. The retrogradation of starch isn't a straight forward process, it manifests itself in completely different processes such as inflated firmness and recrystallization of gelatinized starch gels with time. The elements of starch, amylopectin and amylose, have completely different roles in retrogradation. The fox nut starch was gelatinzied by giving them heat treatment at 60°C, 70°C & 80°C for time varying from 5 to 20 minutes and were successively retrogradaded at 4°C from a time spanning from five minutes to seventy two hours. These were then dried 70°C-80°C and powdered for further use. The following treated fox nuts where then subjected to digestion and their GI were determined by a spectrophotometric assay. The effective temperature for gelatinization was 70°C and time of retrogradation was one night at 4°c, gluten 10% and Guar gum 2% was able to reduce the GI to lowest was determined. The control used was the whole wheat flour to which a 60±5% reduction in GI was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]