2001 AACC Annual Meeting Charlotte, North Carolina October 14-18, 2001 Charlotte Convention Center

Resistant starch is, by definition, starch that resists digestion and passes intact through the small intestine and enters the large intestine where it provides energy for the microflora present. Resistant starch has been somewhat arbitrarily divided into a number of categories, the categories not necessarily being based upon digestive properties, but on other physical or chemical characteristics. Resistant starch is considered dietary fiber (see committee report of AACC Dietary Fiber Definition Committee). To aid in understanding the physiological impact, and to maximize any positive physiological value of resistant starch, resistant starch must be properly quantitated in foods using relevant validated methods. Analysts must have access to said methodology, and consumers must be provided with the information. Since resistant starch was first identified as a fraction of the dietary fiber isolated using AACC 32-05, numerous methods for quantitation have been proposed and published. Currently available methods will be reviewed and methodology gaps will be identified. Questions that need to be addressed include state of the food as eaten versus as analyzed; relevance of constantly changing quantities of resistant starch in foods that ripen; relevance of constantly changing quantities of resistant starch dependent upon the thermal history and the relationship between quantitative methodology and regulatory decisions.