Oligosaccharide Component Composition and Storage Properties of Commercial Low DE Maltodextrins and Their Further Modification by Enzymatic Treatment

Abstract

Abstract The use of dextrose equivalent (DE) as a method of describing maltodextrin materials has been shown to be of little use in predicting the storage stability of 50% w/w maltodextrin solutions required for clinical feed preparations. The alternative method of defining maltodextrin materials in terms of their oligosaccharide component composition, obtained by gel filtration chromatography, is described and used to study the composition and storage properties of commercial low DE maltodextrin materials. The further modification of these maltodextrin materials with commercial forms of α‐amylase (1,4‐α‐ D ‐glucan glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1) and pullulanase (pullulan 6‐glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.41) is discussed in terms of the resulting oligosaccharide component composition and storage stability of 50% w/w solutions.