Prebiotic properties of extruded maize starch-caffeic acid complexes: A study from the small intestine to colon in vitro

• Published in: Food chemistry 2025-02, Vol.465 (Pt 1), p.141980, Article 141980
• Main Authors: Zheng, Yuxue, Ye, Xingqian, Hu, Yanyu, Wang, Shaoyun, Tian, Jinhu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bifidobacterium; Bifidobacterium - growth & development; Bifidobacterium - metabolism; Caffeic acid; Caffeic Acids - chemistry; colon; Colon - metabolism; Colon - microbiology; corn; corn starch; Digestion; extrusion; Fatty Acids, Volatile - chemistry; Fatty Acids, Volatile - metabolism; Fermentation; food chemistry; functional foods; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; genus; Gut microbiota; Humans; In vitro fermentation; Intestine, Small - metabolism; Intestine, Small - microbiology; Lactococcus; Maize starch; prebiotics; Prebiotics - analysis; probiotics; Probiotics - chemistry; Resistant starch; small intestine; Starch - chemistry; Starch - metabolism; Zea mays - chemistry
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141980

Recent studies show that starch-polyphenols complexes exert positive effects on gut health, but the probiotic effects of maize starch-caffeic complexes remain underexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the probiotic effect of maize starch–caffeic complexes from the small intestine to the colon. First, maize starch was extruded with caffeic acid and subjected to in vitro digestion, and the undigested parts were fermented in vitro, and the structural characteristics, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and microbiota communities were investigated. Results showed that caffeic acid reduced the long/short-range order of maize starch after extrusion, significantly increasing resistant starch to 30.35 ± 2.36 %. In vitro fermentation indicated that microbiota utilized the amorphous area of the residues first, promoting SCFAs production and the growth of Bifidobacterium and Lactococcus genus. Overall, the probiotic properties of extruded maize starch–caffeic acid complexes suggest they could serve as a functional food for health benefits. •Extruded maize starch-caffeic acid complexes had higher level of resistant starch.•Gut flora fully used the digestive residues of the complexes (REMS-CA).•REMS-CA produced higher level of total short chain fatty acids.•REMS-CA promoted the abundance of Bifidobacterium and Lactococcus genus.