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Recent Advances and Future Perspectives of Starch and Non-Starch Carbohydrates...
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Recent Advances and Future Perspectives of Starch and Non-Starch Carbohydrates in Food Applications

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 2411

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Germán Ayala Valencia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Food Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Interests: food packaging; bioactive compounds; food shelf-life; macromolecules

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Conventionally, starch and non-starch carbohydrates have been used in the food industry due to their thickening, binding, gelling, baking, and texturing properties. In recent years, these macromolecules have been used to develop new structures with potential food and packaging applications; hence, macromolecules have been proposed to develop Pickering emulsions, aerogels, oleogels, and packaging materials. In addition, new food ingredients have been developed by stabilizing macromolecules with phenolic compounds. Similarly, recent studies have suggested the use of some macromolecules as ingredients to manufacture low-glycemic and fat-replace ingredients in food formulation, as well as in 3D food printing applications. This Special Issue encourages submitting original research papers and reviews focusing on the use of starch and non-starch carbohydrates to structure advanced materials with potential food applications.

Dr. Germán Ayala Valencia
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • carbohydrates
  • proteins
  • food applications
  • food structure
  • packaging
  • digestibility

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4121 KiB  
Article
Preparation, Characterization and Bioactivities of Strawberry Polysaccharides
by Libo Wang, Yumeng Zhao, Junwen Liu, Ling Zhu, Yanhui Wei, Kun Cheng and Yaqin Xu
Foods 2025, 14(7), 1117; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14071117 - 24 Mar 2025
Viewed by 318
Abstract
The aim of this research was to characterize the structure, physicochemical properties and anti-complement activities of two strawberry fruit polysaccharides (DSFP-500 and DSFP-700) obtained by ultrasonic degradation. The molecular weight (Mw) of DSFP-500 was 809 kDa and the Mw [...] Read more.
The aim of this research was to characterize the structure, physicochemical properties and anti-complement activities of two strawberry fruit polysaccharides (DSFP-500 and DSFP-700) obtained by ultrasonic degradation. The molecular weight (Mw) of DSFP-500 was 809 kDa and the Mw of DSFP-700 was 791 kDa, obviously lower than the 9479 kDa weight of the native polysaccharide (PSP). DSFP-500 and DSFP-700 were both composed of the same monosaccharides (Man, Rha, Gal, Glc, Gal and Ara) but the molar ratios were different. The two degraded polysaccharides had good thermal stabilities, as well as good water holding capacity (WHC) and oil holding capacity (OHC). The WHCs of DSFP-500 and DSFP-700 were 5.53 ± 0.08 and 5.70 ± 0.03 g water/g, and the OHCs of DSFP-500 and DSFP-700 were 9.34 ± 0.15 and 9.28 ± 0.29 g oil/g. DSFP-500 and DSFP-700 showed strong free radical scavenging activities in vitro; the ABTS+• scavenging rates of DSFP-700 and DSFP-500 were 55.97 ± 0.68% and 52.06 ± 0.85% at 4.0 mg/mL, respectively. Moreover, DSFP-500 and DSFP-700 both had anti-complement activities through the classical pathway and the alternative pathway, though DSFP-700 was more effective than DSFP-500. These findings indicated the potentiality of the degraded polysaccharides from strawberry fruits in functional food and medicine development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Future Perspectives of Starch and Non-Starch Carbohydrates in Food Applications)
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17 pages, 4167 KiB  
Article
Quantitative Analysis of Molecular Mobility in Amorphous Lactose Above Tg: A Novel Insight from Molecular Dynamic Simulation to Strength Parameter
by Fanghui Fan, Huan Liu, Yier Xu and Tian Mou
Foods 2025, 14(6), 928; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14060928 - 8 Mar 2025
Viewed by 672
Abstract
Measuring molecular mobility (Mm) in solid food is challenging due to the rigid and heterogeneous nature of these matrices. The thermodynamic parameter Strength (S) fails to account for molecular displacement distances. This study emphasizes the role of molecular [...] Read more.
Measuring molecular mobility (Mm) in solid food is challenging due to the rigid and heterogeneous nature of these matrices. The thermodynamic parameter Strength (S) fails to account for molecular displacement distances. This study emphasizes the role of molecular dynamic (MD) simulation in quantifying Mm on amorphous lactose at mimic water activities (aw) at temperatures above the glass transition temperature (Tg), incorporating the S. The results show that coordinating root mean square displacement (RMSD) effectively quantifies Mm across different aw and temperature conditions. Both increased aw and higher temperatures facilitate Mm by expanding free volume and reducing energy barriers for molecular rearrangement, as indicated by the mobility coefficient calculations. This study also emphasizes the importance of system size in interpreting Mm, as larger systems exhibit emergent behaviors that smaller systems cannot capture. The calculated MD relaxation time for 10,000-molecule lactose/water cells at a specific S value was successfully translated to a real timescale of 1.8 × 106 s, consistent with experimental data (1.2 × 106 s). Moreover, water can shift from a plasticizing role to a more stabilizing one, slowing molecular motion and leading to equilibrium clustering. These findings have important implications for understanding the behavior of amorphous lactose in food and pharmaceutical formulations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Future Perspectives of Starch and Non-Starch Carbohydrates in Food Applications)
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Review

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13 pages, 1098 KiB  
Review
Kombucha Bacterial Cellulose: A Promising Biopolymer for Advanced Food and Nonfood Applications
by Talita Ribeiro Gagliardi, Adriana de Farias Nascimento and Germán Ayala Valencia
Foods 2025, 14(5), 738; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14050738 - 21 Feb 2025
Viewed by 1109
Abstract
The pellicle is a coproduct of kombucha beverage production without economic value. This material is based on cellulose produced from bacteria and has better physical properties than cellulose isolated from plants. This review systematically analyzed the research literature about pellicle (KBC—kombucha bacteria cellulose) [...] Read more.
The pellicle is a coproduct of kombucha beverage production without economic value. This material is based on cellulose produced from bacteria and has better physical properties than cellulose isolated from plants. This review systematically analyzed the research literature about pellicle (KBC—kombucha bacteria cellulose) valorization. In general, KBC has been used in food applications, especially as a packaging ingredient to improve the physical properties of biopolymer-based films, as well as to manufacture packaging materials based on KBC. In addition, some studies have investigated the potential of KBC to encapsulate food ingredients or as a food additive. Furthermore, KBC has been used in nonfood applications with a special interest in the development of materials for textile and medical applications and as a substitute for disposable materials (e.g., spoons). Although the literature shows promising results, it is necessary to increase the production scale of this material, as well as to analyze its economic viability. It is also necessary to establish quality standards and international regulations for KBC with respect to its different food and nonfood applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances and Future Perspectives of Starch and Non-Starch Carbohydrates in Food Applications)
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