สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 167 Kuakoon Piyachomkwan, Morakot Tanticharoen Figure 3. Structure of modern cassava starch factory with multiple products and (near) zero-discharge process. Cassava-based products for better living Health products Currently, starch, in both native and modified form, has played a major role in the food industry in order to improve product attributes and shelf life stability. The application of starch in food products is now extended to improvement of nutrition and health benefits. As a consequence of more knowledge on starch structure and properties, starch is tailored-made to have specific functionality. Both granular (e.g. size, crystalline, amorphous, pore, surface charge) and sub- granular (e.g. molecular weight, conformation, branching structure, functional groups) structure level of starches can be modified through physical, chemical and enzymatic processes which introduce changes in phase transition, rheological properties and enzyme hydrolysis. This leads to the development of food products with more nutrition benefits such as low or non-caloric, high dietary fibre, slow digestion, low glycemic index (GI) and prebiotic. In addition to function as carriers, disintegrants and control release agents in tablet production, starch can have a major role in the diet of patients or elderly who need to control food nutrition without subsequent loss of appetite. 160-170_mac9 5/3/12, 11:43 PM 167