EFFECT OF PROCESSING ON AMYLOSE, RESISTANT-STARCH, RAPIDLY-DIGESTIBLE-STARCH, AND SLOWLY-DIGESTIBLE-STARCH FOR GARI, A PROCESSED CASSAVA PRODUCT.

Abstract

The objective was to investigate the effect of domestic processing on the digestion attributes of gari, a low-moisture food product from cassava commonly consumed in tropical developing nations, and important ethnic food amongst population groups in Europe and elsewhere.

During the production of gari, cassava-mash samples were analysed for amylose whilst pH of enzyme extracts from all samples were measured. Resistant-starch types 2 and 3 (RS₂, RS₃), rapidly-digestible-starch (RDS), and slowly-digestible-starch (SDS) in gari were determined. 

The pH was almost stable at 5.3. SDS, RDS, RS₂ and RS₃ variations were 27.4-39.5, 18.2-24.7, 41.7-51.6, and 8.2-15.3 mg/100mg, respectively. Increase in RS₃, lower RDS, higher SDS and RS₂ suggested that gari has better potential as functional food compared to potato-chips (3.5gRS/100g), rice-cake (0.2gRS/100g), raw-banana (4.0gRS/100g), and cooked-white-rice (1.3gRS/100g). Therefore, gari may be considered for its benefits in the diets of wider population groups.