E. Jaime Vernon-Carter

Metropolitan Autonomous University | UAM · Departamento de Ingeniería de Procesos e Hidráulica

The estimation of confidence intervals for the rapidly (RDS) and slowly (SDS) digestible fractions is an important issue for assessing the nutritional characteristics of starch. Usually, the confidence interval estimation relies on a reduced number of experimental data, which may lead to unacceptable uncertainties, and hence to misleading conclusio...

The thermal decomposition modeling of starch granules (rice, maize, and potato) is investigated in this work. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under nitrogen conditions and different heating rates is carried out. First, a model‐free analysis is carried out to determine the variability of the activation energy with the relative conversion. The resul...

This work explores the application of a memory-based approach to modeling chemical reaction kinetics. The key idea is that the past reaction rates impact the current reaction rate via a memory kernel. In this way, the chemical reaction kinetics is path-dependent in the sense that the reaction trajectory determines, via temporal correlations, the cu...

The characterization of the enzymatic hydrolysis of starch is a prerequisite for assessing the impact of starchy food in the gastrointestinal tract. The issue is relevant given the necessity of tailoring food products with a prescribed capacity of glucose production. Several empirical functions have been proposed for modeling starch digestograms. T...

Oil‐in‐water emulgels formed with canola oil and whey protein isolate:alginate‐inulin ternary complex coacervates (TCC) were used as fat replacers (10–15% wt.) in a reduced‐fat set yoghurt (RFY). The addition of the emulgel had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on RFY syneresis and better stability against whey expulsion compared to a full‐fat set yo...

Huauzontle is an undervalued and little‐studied pseudocereal crop whose seeds contain relatively high starch contents. There is scarce information on the structural, physicochemical, functional, and nutritional characteristics of native huauzontle starch (HS), and its modification has not been documented until today. HS is modified with citric acid...

BACKGROUND Wasted food produced for human consumption is estimated at 33% globally, and bread is the food product with the highest percentage. There is an ongoing drive to reincorporate food waste still useful and safe into the production chain of food for human consumption. This work aims to contribute to the study of the feasibility of recycling...

A coarse canola oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion (dispersed mass fraction 0.1) was prepared by adding oil to whey protein hydrolysate (WPH)-citric pectin (CP) soluble complex (1% total biopolymer weight; WPH to CP mass ratio 6:1; pH 4.25) aqueous phase using a high shear homogenizer (4000 rpm, 2 min). The coarse O/W emulsion was further homogenized to o...

A mathematical model for the interaction between digestible starch in the small intestine and blood glucose homeostasis was proposed in this work. The stomach was described as a mixed tank that feeds the chyme into the small intestine. The starch in the small intestine is hydrolyzed by amylolytic enzymes and the behavior is described from a plug fl...

Wheat durum pasta was added with dietary fiber from green pea, corn or polydextrose at levels of 6, 12 and 18 g/100 g. Texture analysis showed that the dietary fiber produced cooked pasta with increased hardness, reduced elasticity and cohesiveness, the effect was magnified by the level of fiber content. The optimum cooking time decreased with the...

The reduction of fat content is an important issue in the formulation of bakery products. In this work, the fat content in sugar-snap cookies was reduced by replacing a commercial shortening with a hybrid gel (HG). The HG was formed by mixing a canola oil/candelilla oleogel (5 g/100 g) and a gelatinized corn starch hydrogel (5 g/100 g) in a 1:1 rat...

The purpose of this research was to study the effects of β-carotene addition (0.0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 g/100 g) on the textural and rheological properties of canola oil/beeswax oleogels. The addition of β-carotene produced oleogels with a more homogeneous morphology. The apparent viscosity as function of the shear rate decreased with the...

Monte Carlo dynamics were used to simulate the enzymatic starch digestion. Enzyme and starch molecules were distributed on a periodic grid and allowed to stochastically interact according to the kinetics scheme S + E → P + E. Digestion of gelatinized dispersions was simulated by assuming limited mobility of starch and complete mobility of enzymes a...

An approach based on fractal scaling analysis to characterize the organization of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence was used. The method is based on the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) implemented on a sliding window scheme to detect variations of long-range correlations over the genome sequence regions. The nucleotides sequence is mapped in a nu...

Hybrid gels (HG) were prepared using candelilla wax (CW, 5 g), canola oil (CO,100 g), native corn starch (N, in 20:80, 40:60, 60:40 weight ratio respect CW), and water (W, 45:1 weight ratio respect N). In method M1 CW/CO/N were heated (90 °C, 15 min) and then mixed with W. N gelatinization was incipient. In method M2, by separate CW/CO and N/W were...

The minimal model (MM) is widely used for analyzing glucose-insulin interactions under healthy and diabetic conditions. The MM departs from a two-compartment scheme and involves three states for the concentration of glucose and insulin, and the action of insulin is the remote compartment. Although the derivation of the MM model is tacitly based on...

Chia seed oil-candelilla wax (3 g/100 g) oleogel was prepared and subjected to annealing at three different temperatures (30, 35 and 40 • C). Light microscopy images showed the presence of needle-like crystals structures dispersed in the oil phase. Annealing disrupted the crystalline structures by reducing their number. Wide-angle X-ray dispersion...

Bixin and norbixin are extracted from annatto seeds, and the residual seed waste can be used as a potential source of annatto starch (AS), contributing to the circular economy of the regional communities where the resource is grown/processed. To assess AS suitability as a food ingredient, its physicochemical, antioxidant, microstructural, and funct...

Native amaranth protein (APN) is a nutritional ingredient with potential applications for the structuration and functionalization of food products. However, its solubility is poor, which limits its use in the food industry. The effect of ultrasonication (US) at 50% amplitude for 10 min (APUS), pH-shifting at pH 2 and 12 (APpH2 and APpH12), and the...

Chia seed oil-candelilla wax (3 g/100 g) oleogel was prepared and subjected to annealing at three different temperatures (30, 35 and 40 °C). Light microscopy images showed the presence of needle-like crystals structures dispersed in the oil phase. Annealing disrupted the crystalline structures by reducing their number. Wide-angle X-ray dispersion a...

Wheat dough added with baking dried yeast (BDY, 5 g) or baking powder (BP, 5 g) was leavened for 0, 2, 4 and 6 h for producing white bread (BBDY or BBD, respectively). The specific volume of BBDY was higher than for BBP. FTIR analysis revealed that BBP reduced the short-range crystallinity of starch granules, an effect magnified by the leavening ti...

High-power ultrasound (HPU) is a non-thermal processing method that has been researched and used in the last years. The application of ultrasound can modify and improve some technologically important compounds such as starch. This research aimed to examine the effect of ultrasound treatment on yield, physicochemical, and functional properties of ly...

High-power ultrasound (HPU) is a non-thermal processing method that has been researched and used in the last years. The application of ultrasound can modify and improve some technologically important compounds such as starch. This research aimed to examine the effect of ultrasound treatment on yield, physicochemical and functional properties of lyc...

Alginate‐based hydrogels supplemented with corn starch (0, 25, 50 and 75% relative to total solids) were obtained as a preliminary step to fabricate the corresponding xerogels. Microscopy showed that starch incorporated porosity to xerogels, while alginate tended to form layered structures. X‐ray analysis showed that the relative crystallinity was...

The development of carrier systems for antioxidants is a current topic of study, providing protection against deleterious environmental factors and facilitate their efficient incorporation into more complex food systems. Nanoemulsions (NE) made up with natural ingredients may be considered as potential systems where bioactive compounds could be enc...

Corn starch was heated (100, 120, 140 and 160 °C) under air convective conditions for 4 h. SEM images showed that the treatment produced pores and fractures on the granule surface. Hydroxyl groups of starch molecules were oxidized to carboxyl and carbonyl groups. Increasing heating temperature conditions led to significant increases in the carboxyl...

The effects of the dry heat treatment (DHT) temperature (20, 50, 100, 150, 200 °C) on the structure of wheat flour and on the texture and in vitro starch digestibility of breads were investigated. X-ray diffraction and FTIR showed that increasing temperatures produced reduction of the hydrated starch structures, increased crystallinity and molecula...

Native corn starch is subjected to dual heat moisture (30 g per 100 g d.b.)/lactic acid (10 g per 100 g d.b.) treatment (HMLAx) at different temperatures (x = 90, 110, 130, and 150 °C), and is compared with heat moisture (HMx) treatment alone. Neither HMLAx nor HMx change the crystallinity type (A‐type) of the corn starch, but the relative crystall...

Maize starch dispersions (5 g/100 mL water) are treated with Ca(OH)2 (0.2 g/100 g starch), emulating the traditional nixtamalization process, and with CaCl2 or Ca(CO)3 (1.0g/100 g starch) salts, emulating ecological nixtamalization processes. The effect of these calcium compounds upon the in vitro digestibility of maize starch is evaluated in compa...

The aim of this study was to form liquid crystalline structures for retaining and protecting β-carotene (β-c). Tween 40-Span 20 (TxSy) were blended for obtaining target hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) values ranging from 9 to 15. TxSy were mixed with canola oil (O) as carrier and water (W) as solvent and incubated for 10 days at 37 °C. The for...

This work focused on the effects of adding of a polyphenol rich aqueous muicle (Justicia spicigera Schechtendal) extract (ME) to nixtamalized white maize flour, on the rheological properties of masa and on the texture, color, FTIR, antioxidant activity, and in vitro starch digestibility. NWMF with ME contents of x = 0, 0.7, 1.7, and 2.7 g.100 g⁻¹ d...

Amylases are one of the main enzymes used in industry for hydrolyzing starch molecules into simple sugar constituents, can be sourced from plants, animals and microorganisms. Starch converting α-amylase has applications in different industrial sectors, and an ongoing research topic is to improve processing conditions leading to enhanced enzymatic a...

A hedonistic black color was imparted to bread by adding activated vegetable charcoal (AC; 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 g/100 g wheat flour). The addition of AC had a significant effect on dough rheology and on bread specific volume, color, texture, and in vitro starch digestibility. The apparent viscosity and the viscoelastic moduli of dough were enhanced....

The physicochemical and functional properties of huauzontle protein isolates (HPI) were investigated. HPI had high contents of most essential amino acids excepting valine, and a protein digestibility of 83.0 ± 0.2%. SDS-PAGE showed that the main protein bands were located between 20 and 50 KDa. FTIR pinpointed that the Amide I secondary structure w...

The use of oleogels for replacing solid fats is a hot topic in the food industry. The objective of this work was to partially or totally replace butter by candelilla wax/canola oil oleogel, and evaluate its effect on starch digestibility and texture of wheat sponge cake bread. Candelilla wax/canola oil oleogel/butter blends were made substituting b...

Mango cv. Manila kernel ethanolic extract (MKE) was assessed in vitro and in mango cv. Ataulfo fruits for antifungal activity against Colletotrichum brevisporum. An optimum MKE with a total phenolic content of 461.7 mg gallic acid equivalents/g and DPPH• antioxidant activity of 2919.0 μmol Trolox equivalents/g was obtained by applying high intensit...

Green peas (Pisum sativum, cv. Warindo) are dehydrated in a channel air flowing (15 m s⁻¹) drier at 50, 60, and 70 °C. Dried peas are milled for obtaining flour, and some properties are assessed. Increasing drying temperatures produce a significant greenness reduction (quantified by chroma parameter a) and on the relative crystallinity (assessed by...

BACKGROUND Maize tortilla staling is a major drawback that affects its commercialization and consumption, and so novel methods for retarding staling are continuously being explored. The present study evaluated the effect of adding a canola oil/candelilla wax oleogel (CWO; 0. 2, 4 and 6 g 100 g⁻¹) to a basic masa formulation (water, 60 g 100 g⁻¹; ni...

Progress curves of enzymatic hydrolysis are commonly used for gaining insights on the structure and functionality of native and modified starch. Commonly, heuristic models (e.g., first‐order kinetics) are used to fit the experimental data. Models derived from kinetics schemes would provide valuable insights on the digestibility properties of starch...

The aim of this work was to supplement masa made from nixtamalized white maize flour (NWMF) with anthocyanins (0.0, 0.03, 0.06 and 0.12 g/100 g of masa), and to evaluate the effects on the rheological properties of the masa and on color, staling, in vitro digestibility, and hardness of tortillas. Tortilla baking reduced the content of anthocyanins...

The role of endogenous protein in the formation of spray‐dried taro starch spherical aggregates is studied in this work. Taro starch dispersions (30 g per 100 mL water) are added with different protease concentrations (0.0, 1.0, and 5.0 × 103 IU protease per g starch) for degrading the surface protein of the starch granules. Protease treatment has...

The aim of this work was to form polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) mesquite gum (MG) and chitosan (Ch), as a function of the biopolymer mixing ratio (RMG/Ch). The water state during PECs formation was monitored as a way of assessing its effect on the viscoelastic properties. The maximum difference of zeta potential values for polyelectrolyte solutio...

The Monod equation has been extensively used for modeling microbial growth, but has no mechanistic basis and its derivation is purely empirical. In this work an approach was developed for deriving the Monod equation based on a simple kinetics scheme. The microbial growth process considered involved two consecutive steps, i.e., (i) the formation of...

Recently the structuring of liquid oils with low molecular weight organogelators has received much attention. Food products devoid of trans fats, with tailored rheological and textural properties can be designed for desired applications by properly selecting the organogelator and cooling rate used in their formation. Nevertheless, studies regarding...

Masa was prepared by mixing 63.0 g of commercial nixtamalized corn flour and 37.0 g of water, and subjected to large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) for assessing nonlinear viscoelasticity. Fourier decomposition of the stress time response was conducted to extract information on nonlinearities. The results showed that nonlinearities were express...

Alginate beads are commonly used for protection of probiotics against adverse environmental conditions. However, alginate beads are unable to provide complete cell viability under stringent gastric pH condition. This work considered the incorporation of Mg(OH)2 particles in the formulation of alginate beads to enhance the viability of L. casei unde...

This study uses calcium chloride to induce cross-linking of starch chains in order to enhance the mechanical response of starch-based solid electrolytes. The films are prepared at five different CaCl2 contents (0, 0.125, 0.250, 0.50, 1.0 g) using a fixed amount of glycerol (1.5 g), LiCl (1.5 g) and starch (3 g) dispersed in 100 g of water. X-ray di...

The effects of different purification methods on the yield, chemical composition, physicochemical, and emulsifying properties of tamarind seed gum were investigated. Low purity gum (TSG LP ) was extracted from whole tamarind seeds; medium purity gum (TSG MP ) was extracted from defatted tamarind kernel, and high purity gum (TSG HP ) was extracted a...

Gelatinized native corn starch dispersion (GSD, 5 g/100 mL water) was diluted with ethanol/water mixtures (EWM, 0.0, 1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 mL ethanol/100 mL) to a final concentration of 2.0 g GSD/100 mL EWM. The GSD were subjected to digestion by porcine pancreas α-amylase (0.33 and 0.66 IU/mL) at 37 °C for 90 min. The digested starch was reduced as an...

Wheat dough is subjected to large deformations under realistic processing conditions. The viscoelasticity under large deformations can be hardly captured by traditional small amplitude oscillatory tests. Large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) tests are required for accurate characterization of the nonlinear mechanical response. In this regard, LA...

Non-chemical modified native corn (NCS), rice (NRS), wheat (NWS), and waxy corn (WCS) starch dispersions (5.0 g/100 g water) were heated (90 °C, 20 min) for producing gelatinized starch dispersions (GSD). GSD were centrifuged and the supernatant starch fraction (SF) was used for preparation of O/W emulsions (dispersed phase mass fraction of 0.15)....

Recently the structuring of liquid oils with low molecular weight organogelators has received much attention. Food products devoid of trans fats, with tailored rheological and textural properties can be designed for desired applications by properly selecting the organogelator and cooling rate used in their formation. Nevertheless, studies regarding...

Maize tortillas are still an important source of energy and proteins for Mesoamerican population. While starch digestibility has been characterized at some detail, studies on protein digestibility are still scarce. This work considered maize tortillas prepared from masa made with industrial and traditional nixtamalized flours to characterize the ef...

Starch‐rich foods such as cereals and tubers are the main source of energy in human diet, but are rarely consumed in their native form, requiring cooking to deem them more digestible. The soaking of starch‐rich matrices can reduce significantly energy consumption. In this work, native maize and potato starches were soaked in water (10 g/100 g water...

Baking yeast exhibiting amylolytic activity was used for treating masa made from nixtamalized maize flour (NMF). Baking yeast (0.25, 0.50 and 1.0 g˖100 g−1 NMF) was added to the basic masa recipe (40 NMF:60 water mass ratio). Two masa controls without yeast addition were prepared: CM1 used as such, and CM2 subjected to a mild incubation treatment (...

Starch is an abundant renewable resource and is the raw material for the production of a wide range of products, many of which are obtained by hydrolysis. While the hydrolysis of starch by enzymes and acids has been extensively investigated, there are scant studies with respect to the use of solid acid catalysts for this purpose. In this work we ex...

Roux is an equal part mixture of flour and clarified butter cooked for a few minutes, and is the basic recipe for producing sauces. There is a lack of systematic studies regarding the effects of cooking temperature and time on the characteristics of roux. To this end, roux pasta (50:50 of wheat flour and clarified butter) was prepared to assess the...

Aqueous dispersions of normal and waxy corn starch (3% w/w) were mixed with Tween 80 (0, 7.5, 15, 22.5 and 30 g/100 g of starch), and gelatinized (90 °C, 20 min). Optical microscopy of the gelatinized starch dispersions (GSDx; x = Tween 80 concentration) revealed that the microstructure was characterized by a continuous phase of leached amylose and...

Pectin was extracted from cacao pod husks (CPHP) wastes, having a methylesterification degree of 83.22%, acetylation degree of 10.20%, and protein content of 3.68%. The adsorption dynamics of CPHP at the canola oil-water interface were studied, and diffusion (k diff), penetration (k pen) and rearrangement (k rea) rate constants were determined. Can...

Background: Staling of maize tortilla is a major drawback affecting their manufacture, commercialization and consumption. The development of methods that may help retard staling of maize tortilla is an ongoing research topic. In this work a novel, simple, economic and effective method is proposed, based on adding completely gelatinized nixtamalize...

Response surface methodology was used for establishing the amplitude (72.67%) and time (17.29 min) high-intensity ultrasound (HIUS) conditions leading to an optimized faba bean protein isolate (OFPI) with lower interfacial tension, zeta potential and viscosity, and higher solubility than native faba bean protein isolate (NFPI). OFPI showed signific...

Tamales are Mexican traditional food consisting of a mixture of nixtamalized maize flour, fat and water, kneaded into batter (masa). Energy consumed in excess of an individual′s requirements can contribute to the development of overweight and obesity, and to the risk of developping metabolic syndrome. There is a drive to improve the "healthiness" o...

Pectin was extracted from cacao pod husks (CPHP) wastes, having a methylesterification degree of 83.22%, acetylation degree of 10.20%, and protein content of 3.68%. The adsorption dynamics of CPHP at the canola oil-water interface were studied, and diffusion (kdiff), penetration (kpen) and rearrangement (krea) rate constants were determined. Canola...

Optical, mechanical, and electric properties of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) were affected by the order of addition of corn starch (S), lithium perchlorate (Li), and glycerol (G) during the preparation process. Four formulations were made based on whether Li was added prior to S gelatinization (simultaneous formulations SGLi and SLi+G) or whethe...

The purpose of this study was to prepare and evaluate the chemical and physical properties of protein-polyphenol-polysaccharide ternary soluble complexes composed of pea protein isolate (PPI), quercetin (Q) and mesquite gum (MG). PPI and MG were mixed in varying ratios at pH 5.0 and hydrodynamic diameter, ζ-potential, turbidity and soluble complexe...

Structured phosphatidylcholine was successfully produced by acidolysis between phosphatidylcholine and free medium chain fatty acid, using phospholipase A1 immobilized on Duolite A568. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the reaction system using three process parameters: molar ratio of substrates (phosphatidylcholine to free mediu...

Satureja macrostema (SM) is commonly used as a spice and medicinal plant in Mexico. Ethanolic extracts at different concentrations (E0, E50, E75, E100) were obtained by reflux (RE) and microwave-ultrasound assisted (MUAE) techniques at three extraction times (30, 60, and 120 min). The total phenolics content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC), a...

In a previous work gelatinized corn starch dispersions (GSD) contained different (∼ 7-59.6%) ghost phase fractions (GPF), i.e., insoluble amylopectin-rich remnants, were added glycerol as plasticizer, casted and dried for obtaining films. GPF had both positive and negative effects on films properties, but GPF of around 20-30%, provided films with g...

The effect of starch-insoluble remnants (i.e., ghosts) on the behavior of the solid biopolymer electrolyte remains to be studied. This work focused on this issue by considering a case-study system formed by corn starch, glycerol, and lithium chloride. The ghost content was controlled by subjecting the gelatinized dispersion to ultrasonic cavitation...

Ultrasound technologies are increasingly used for the production of modified starches. An accurate understanding of the effects of ultrasound treatment on the morphological and functional properties of starch granules and dispersions is still under progress. This work studied the digestibility of corn starch as affected by ultrasound treatment (24...

Background: Curcumin is a natural, oil-soluble polyphenolic compound with potent anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities. In its free form, it is very poorly absorbed in the gut due to its very low solubility. The use of nanoemulsions as carrier is a feasible way for improving curcumin bioavailability. To this end, the choice of...

This work studied rheological and thermal properties of dough and textural and microstructural features of bread with pulque, a white sap made from the juice of certain species of agave in Mexico, as leavening agent. To this end, a basic dough recipe (wheat flour-33.7%, sugar-2.5%, salt-0.5%, and water-63.3% w/w) was used as control. Dough variatio...

This work considers an extension of the fractional-order Maxwell arrangement to incorporate a relaxation process with non-Newtonian viscosity behavior. The resulting model becomes a fractional-order nonlinear differential equation with stable solution converging asymptotically to a unique equilibrium point. Expressions for the corresponding storage...

The physicochemical transformations suffered by corn starch granules under the solid-state fermentative action of Aspergillus oryzae var. oryzae were studied. Light microscopy images showed that the starch granules became increasingly fractured and broke-down as fermentation time was longer. SEM micrographs showed that the mean particle diameter de...

This work considered gelatinized wheat flour fraction with properties similar to hydrocolloid to enhance the strength of dough network by improving water retention and rheological characteristics. The gelatinized (90 °C) fraction of the wheat flour was incorporated in the dough formulation at different levels (5, 10, and 20% w/w). The effects of th...

Ghosts are insoluble materials remaining after the gelatinization of starch dispersions. The role of ghosts on the properties of starch films has not been fully characterized. Thus, the aim of this work was to study the impact of ghosts on the mechanical, optical and barrier properties of starch films. To this end, an aqueous corn starch dispersion...