These results show that GC thickeners contain their consistency better in contact with human saliva than SD thickeners. This may enhance the swallowing safety of people with dysphagia.

ObjectiveTo determine whether a gum-containing thickener maintains its viscosity better during oral processing than a completely starch-based thickener.MethodsThirty-five healthy volunteers participated in a double-blind, cross-over study. Artificial tap water was thickened to honey-like consistency (effective viscosity of 1,300±100 mPa·s at a shear rate of 50 per second at 20℃) with a starch-based thickener (SB) or a gum-containing thickener (GC). Bolus viscosity was determined after standardized oral processing of the thickened water by the subjects for 10 and 20 seconds. Significant effects were determined by ANOVA analysis and pairwise comparisons.ResultsBoth thickeners were susceptible to breakdown during oral processing. However, GC-thickened water retained its viscosity significantly better than SB-thickened water.ConclusionThe presence of gums has a protective effect on the starch hydrolysis by salivary amylase in thickened drinks, which may facilitate safer swallowing.

A laboratory‐scale process is presented for the manufacture of starch and gluten from wheat. Main feature of this process is that whole wheat kernels are crushed dry between smooth rolls prior to wet disintegration in excess water in such way that gluten formation is prevented and fibres can be removed by sieving. Centrifugation of the endosperm suspension yields a dough which can be separated into starch and gluten using an established batter process. The results suggest that starch recovery is increased in comparison to a conventional wheat flour process without a concomitant decrease in protein recovery. Although starch purification was omitted, a total starch with a low protein content is obtained. On the other hand, the protein content of the gluten fraction is rather low due to difficulties in removing the starch. Despite this, the effect on dough mechanical properties by the addition of gluten obtained from wet‐milled wheat is comparable to the effect of gluten from flour.

A laboratory‐scale procedure is proposed for the separation of starch and gluten from wet‐milled wheat. Our purpose was to assess the potential of wheat as a starch crop by optimising starch quality and yield. Features are the rapid steeping by mildly fracturing the wheat grains, the separation of starch from the gluten‐fibre mass in a slurry process, and the separation of fibres and gluten by reversibly dissolving the latter in dilute ammonia. This procedure affords starch with a low content of damaged granules which appears to be less dependent on wheat quality than in the conventional wheat flour process. Starch yield is similar to that of the flour process. Gluten recovered from ammonia is much stiffer than gluten from flour and its quality is somewhat lower, but it is generally suitable to increase loaf volume. Because of the low protein recovery and the use of ammonia, development into a large‐scale process is not likely.