Banana starch has been studied in the area of Nutrition ever since the concept of RS was introduced. The starches of Musa Type AAA-Nanicão and Musa Type AAB-Terra were characterized according to their physiological responses [12]. As a continuation, this study presents other physical and morphological features of starch granules from both species of banana, comparing them with native starch from commercial corn. The banana starches were extracted according to CHIANG, CHU & CHU [3]. The morphology of the granules was examined after hydrolysis in vitro pancreatic alpha-amylase. The respective X-ray amylogram and diffractogram were prepared. The length of the starch granules from Musa Type AAA-Nanicão was 30-40µm. The starch granules from Musa Type AAB-Terra also presenting an oval, elongated shape, were slightly shorter between 20-30µm. The enzymatic attack in vitro initiated on the once smooth surface and the corrosion caused superficial and apical grooves. A scanning electron microscopy showed that the 24 hour hydrolysis in vitro was limited, and occurred mostly in the amorphous layers of both species. The pattern of corrosion was distinctly different in the corn starch. In the viscosimeter the banana starch suspensions demonstrated a great capacity for hydration and a smaller capacity for retrogradation as compared to corn starch, especially the starch from Musa Type AAA-Nanicão; the starch from Musa Type AAB-Terra presented a greater paste stability. In the X-ray diffraction analysis, the banana starch granules were shown to be the standard type B and C for Musa Type AAA-Nanicão and Musa Type AAB-Terra, respectively. It was concluded that the structures of the starches from Musa AAA-Nanicão and Musa AAB Terra were different, justifying the different physiological responses previously found by the same authors. The distinction between the properties, both biochemical and physical, obtained for the two types of banana starch granule, although only moderate between the two, and considerably different when compared to corn starch, did not explain the high resistance of the banana starches to enzymatic digestion. For the first time, the parameters obtained in this study allow one to evaluate the characteristics and differences between the starch granules of different kinds of banana and their relation with the corn starch.
starch from banana; resistant starch; enzymatic hydrolysis
