WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Dec. 14 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says he's discovered a way of using a nanoparticle from corn to lengthen the shelf life of many foods, yet maintain their health benefits.
Purdue University Assistant Professor Yuan Yao says he has successfully modified the phytoglycogen nanoparticle -- a starch-like substance that makes up nearly 30 percent of the dry mass of some sweet corn -- to allow the nanoparticle to attach to oils and emulsify them, while also acting as a barrier to oxidation, which causes food to become rancid.
"This can be widely used in the food industry, cosmetics and nutritional supplements -- any system in which the oxidation of lipids is a concern," Yao said. "The shelf life of a product can be low and the quality of the food can become bad because of the oxidation of the lipids."
Yao said he was able to modify the surface of the phytoglycogen nanoparticle to make it behave like an emulsifier, creating phytoglycogen octenyl succinate that is thicker and denser than commonly used emulsifiers, creating a better defense from oxygen, free radical and metal ions, which cause lipid oxidation.
Yao has filed a provisional patent application for the technology.
Yao's research and his findings were reported in the early online edition of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
