The potential role of fatty acids enhances the anti-retrogradation property of flaxseed gum on wheat starch

Starch gel foods are prone to retrogradation during storage, which affects their texture and quality. This study investigates the effects of flaxseed gum-fatty acid (FG-FA) systems on the retrogradation behavior of wheat starch (WS), focusing on the enhanced anti-retrogradation potential of various fatty acids (FAs). The results indicate that different FAs formed complexes with WS to varying degrees (81.71–93.97%). Compared to the WS-FG sample, the addition of FAs led to reduced gelatinization enthalpy, the formation of amylose-FA complexes, decreased ordered structure and relative crystallinity, more stable gel structure, and decreased hardness of the starch during storage, demonstrating that FAs enhance the inhibition of starch retrogradation. Furthermore, the inclusion of FAs increased the content of slowly digestible starch by an average of 6.12%. The effectiveness of FAs in inhibiting starch retrogradation was dependent on their saturation and chain length, following the order: lauric acid (LA) > myristic acid (MA) > palmitic acid (PA) > stearic acid (SA) > oleic acid (OA) > linoleic acid (LOA), with LA showing the most pronounced effect. These findings highlight the potential of the FG-FA system to enhance the storage stability of starch gel products. • Impact of fatty acid (FA) addition on starch retrogradation in WS-FG mixtures was explored. • FA addition significantly inhibited starch retrogradation. • Lauric acid (LA) demonstrated the strongest inhibitory effect on starch retrogradation.