What is starch?
Starch is a type of complex carbohydrate.
Starch is a plant-based molecule, dietary starch is found primarily in plant-based foods. (2)
Starch is a type of polysaccharide. (6)
What produces starch?
plants produce starch (5)
Starch is primarily found in plants. (5)
Where is starch located?
Starch is stored in the cells of plants in plastids. (6)
What does starch do?
starch is used to store carbohydrates for energy for a plant (5)
In plants, starch can be broken down into glucose molecules for use in cellular respiration. (6)
What foods contains starch?
Starch is mostly found in traditional staple foods such as cereal grains, roots and tubers, legumes (beans, lentils and chickpeas), nuts and seeds, and the many ingredients made from these that are incorporated into our foods like breads, pasta’s, noodles, breakfast cereals, cakes, biscuits, crackers and savory snacks (e.g., corn chips, potato crisps and pretzels to name but a few). (3)
cereal
wheat bread
corn (2)
oats
breads (2)
pastas (2)
rice (2)
tortillas (2)
peas (2)
potatoes (2)
beans (2)
legumes (2)
roots (4)
tubers (4)
What are types of starches?
rapidly digestible starch (RDS) (3)
slowly digestible starch (SDS) (3)
resistant starch (RS) (3)
whole grain starches – (starches which have not been processed or refined) (2) – ex: whole grain bread, corn tortillas
refined grain starches (2) – white bread, flour tortillas
Resources
1. https://byjus.com/chemistry/complex-carbohydrates/
2. https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/definitions-total-carbohydrates-other-carbohydrates-6150.html
3. https://glycemicindex.com/2021/07/starch-lingo-rapidly-digested-starch-resistant-starch-and-slowly-digested-starch/
4. https://glycemicindex.com/2021/07/starch-lingo-rapidly-digested-starch-resistant-starch-and-slowly-digested-starch/
5. https://www.livestrong.com/article/501985-types-of-starch/
6. ChatGPT, 3/19/23
