| | Category | BCHM | L05 | Resisting Digestion |
| | Abstract | The purpose of this project is to discover if refrigerating starch- |
| | containing foods make the starches in those foods more resistant to |
| | being digested by the body. In theory, the process of refrigeration |
| | creates these resistant starches. A resistant starch is one that is not |
| | broken down into glucose immediately upon entering the small |
| | intestines. These resistant starches result in smaller blood glucose |
| | levels and less of an increase in the body’s insulin levels (“Response to |
| | Three”). In order to test the digestion process of potatoes as resistant |
| | starches, the potatoes will be prepared in two different ways. One |
| | potato will be boiled for twenty minutes, cut into three parts and then |
| | refrigerated. While the other potato will be cut into three parts and |
| | boiled after having been in the refrigerator. One part from each potato |
| | will be tested immediately while one will be in the refrigerator for 12 |
| | hours and the other for 24 hours. In order to replicate the digestion |
| | process in the body, the enzyme diastase will take the place of |
| | amylase. Three grams of a 10% diluted potato solution will be mixed |
| | with three grams of a 10% diluted diastase solution. The instant the two |
| | solutions are mixed a timer will start and every five minutes for two |
| | hours the glucose level will be tested using Urine Reagent Strips. The |
| | glucose level indicates the amount to which the starch has been |
| | digested over a given period of time. Lower glucose levels would |
| | indicate that the starches are more resistant. In the data analysis, a line |
| | of best fit will be calculated to the data, and the slopes and y-intercepts |
| | of the lines of the varying cases will be compared. In the completed |
| | section of testing where the potato was cooked first, the 0 hour trial |
| | produced the largest slope of 15.592, but smallest y-intercept of 112.9 |
| | mg of glucose; the 12 hour trial produced a medium slope of 2.0954 |
| | and medium y-intercept value of 192.08 mg of glucose; and the 24 hour |
| | trial produced the smallest slope of 1.84 and the largest y-intercept |
| | value of 253.2 mg of glucose. These data have many real-world |
| | applications including the implications of an alternative method of |
| | preparing starches for people diagnosed with diabetes. If refrigerating |
| | starches is proven to turn them into resistant starches and cause them |
| | to contribute to blood sugar less, then it will be a valuable piece of |
| | Bibliography | Gunnars, Kris. "Resistant Starch 101 – Everything You Need to Know." |
| | AuthorityNutrition.com, Authority Nutrition, 2012-2017, |
| | authoritynutrition.com/resistant-starch-101/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2017. |
| | Mishra, Ankita. "Development of EMS-induced Mutation Population for |
| | Amylose..." BMC Plant Biology, vol. 16, no. 1, 2016. Gale Science in |
| | Context, |
| | link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A465840153/SCIC?u=lom_detroitcdvl&xid |
| | =b7df4e20. Accessed 5 Feb. 2017. |