Impacts and potential applications: A review of the modification of starches by heat-moisture treatment (HMT)

Starch plays an important role in human nutrition. However, in its native form, its uses are limited due to factors such as high viscosity, low solubility, thermal decomposition, and a high tendency to retrogradation. These limitations can be overcome by starch modification techniques, particularly physical methods. Heat-moisture treatment (HMT) is a physical method applied in the modification of starches; it has been widely studied by the scientific community using the most diverse botanical sources, with measurement of the specific contents of amylose and amylopectin, in relation to the parameters of time, temperature, moisture and drying equipment. This review discusses the characterisation of HMT-modified starches by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and pasting properties (RVA).