starch: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com
- ️Thu Jul 05 2007
n.
- A naturally abundant nutrient carbohydrate, (C6H10O5)n, found chiefly in the seeds, fruits, tubers, roots, and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice, and varying widely in appearance according to source but commonly prepared as a white amorphous tasteless powder.
- Any of various substances, such as natural starch, used to stiffen cloth, as in laundering.
- starches Foods having a high content of starch, as rice, breads, and potatoes.
- Stiff behavior.
- Vigor; mettle: “Business travel can take the starch out of the most self-assured corporate titan” (Lisa Faye Kaplan).
tr.v., starched, starch·ing, starch·es.
To stiffen with starch.
[Middle English starche, substance used to stiffen cloth (sense uncertain), from sterchen, to stiffen, from Old English *stercan.]
A carbohydrate that occurs as discrete, partially crystalline granules in the seeds, roots (tubers), stems (pith), leaves, fruits, and pollen grains of higher plants. Starch functions as the main storage or reserve form of carbohydrate; it is second in abundance only to cellulose, a major structural component of plants. Cereal grains, tuber and root crops, and legumes (seeds) have long been used as major sources of carbohydrate in human diets. See also Cellulose.
Starch is isolated commercially from the following sources: cereal grain seeds [maize (corn), wheat, rice, sorghum], roots and tubers [potato, sweet potato, tapioca (cassava), arrowroot], and stems and pith (sago). Cereal grains are often steeped first to loosen the starch granules in the endosperm matrix, followed by wet grinding or milling. Roots and tubers are ground to give a suspension containing starch granules. Then follows screening or sieving, washing, centrifuging, dewatering, and drying.
Starch, a polymer of glucose, is an alpha-glucan, predominantly containing alpha-1,4-glucosidic linkages with a relatively small amount of alpha-1,6-glucosidic linkages forming branch points. Two major polymeric components are present: amylose and amylopectin. Normally a white powder of 98–99.5% purity, starch is insoluble in cold water, ethanol, and most common solvents. See also Glucose.
Starches are involved in important roles in foods, either naturally occurring in an ingredient or added to achieve a desired functional characteristic. Often the desired functional characteristic (thickening; gelling; adhesive; binding; improving acid, heat, and shear stability) cannot be achieved by using a native starch. Starches may be altered physically, chemically, or enzymatically to produce modified starches with improved functional properties.
The paper, textile, adhesive, chemical, pharmaceutical, and polymer industries use starch and starch derivatives. Organic acids and organic solvents for use as chemical intermediates, enzymes, hormones, antibiotics, and vaccines are industrially produced from starch. See also Carbohydrate.
Polysaccharide, a polymer of glucose units; the form in which carbohydrate is stored in the plant; it does not occur in animal tissue. (Glycogen is sometimes referred to as animal starch.) Starch is broken down by acid or enzymic hydrolysis (amylase), or during digestion, first to maltose and then glucose; it is the principal carbohydrate of the diet and hence the major source of energy. Starches from different sources (e.g. potato, maize, cereal, arrowroot, sago, etc.) have different structures, and contain different proportions of two major forms: amylose, which is a linear polymer and amylopectin, which has a branched structure. The mixture of dietary starches consists of about one-quarter amylose and three-quarters amylopectin.
A complex carbohydrate (polysaccharide) made of many glucose units. Uncooked starch is very difficult to digest, but heat opens out starch molecules so that they form a gel-like structure which is more accessible to digestive enzymes. During digestion, enzymes in the gut help to break down the starch into dextrins, and then glucose molecules which are absorbed into the blood. Starch takes much longer to digest than simple sugars, such as sucrose (table sugar). Consequently, starch provides a steady stream of glucose into the bloodstream and is less likely than sucrose to cause blood glucose swings which can provoke the secretion of excess insulin.
High quantities of starch are found in bananas which are still green at their tips (in brown bananas, most of the starch is converted to sugars), breads, corn, oats, pasta, potatoes, rice, and yams. Unrefined forms of these foods also contain other nutrients, especially vitamins, trace minerals, and fibre. They are a much better source of carbohydrates than manufactured, sweet products containing little other than sugar. For example, wholemeal pasta contains high levels of carbohydrate and significant amounts of dietary fibre, minerals, and B complex vitamins. This makes it a favourite pre-race food for many marathon runners: the carbohydrate helps to boost muscle glycogen stores, and the other components help to maintain the health and efficiency of the runner. See also resistant starch.
noun
- A quality of active mental and physical forcefulness: dash, punch, verve, vigor, vigorousness, vim, vitality. Informal snap. Idioms: vim and vigor. See action/inaction, tired/fresh.
verb
- To make stiff or stiffer: stiffen. See flexible/rigid.
n
The principal molecule used for the storage of food in plants. Starch is a polysaccharide and is composed of long chains of glucose subunits.
Any of several white, granular organic compounds produced by all green plants. They are polysaccharides with the general chemical formula (C6H10O5)n, where n may range from 100 to several thousand; the constituent monosaccharides are glucose units made in photosynthesis. The glucose chains are unbranched in amylose and branched in amylopectin, which occur mixed in starches. Starch consumed by animals is broken down into glucose by enzymes during digestion. Commercial starch is made mainly from corn, though wheat, tapioca, rice, and potato starch are also used. Starch has many uses in foods and the food industry, as well as in the paper, textile, and personal-care products industries and in adhesives, explosives, and oil-well drilling fluids and as a mold-release agent. Animal starch is another name for glycogen. See also carbohydrate.
For more information on starch, visit Britannica.com.
A carbohydrate that acts as a storage product of plants. It is a polysaccharride made of alpha glucose units, forming amylose and amylopectin polymers. Uncooked starch is generally difficult to digest, but those starches with relatively high amounts of amylopectin are easier to digest and absorb than those with relatively high amounts of amylose. Cooked starches are easier to digest because heat breaks down starch molecules to smaller compounds called dextrins.
white, odorless, tasteless, carbohydrate powder. It plays a vital role in the biochemistry of both plants and animals and has important commercial uses. In green plants starch is produced by photosynthesis; it is one of the chief forms in which plants store food. It is stored most abundantly in tubers (e.g., the white potato), roots (e.g., the sweet potato), seeds, and fruits; it appears in the form of grains that differ in size, shape, and markings in various plants. The plant source can usually be identified by microscopic examination of the starch grains. Starch obtained by animals from plants is stored in the animal body in the form of glycogen. Digestive processes in both plants and animals convert starch to glucose, a source of energy. Starch is one of the major nutrients in the human diet. Its presence in foods and other substances can be detected by the blue-black color produced when iodine solution is added to a sample of the material to be tested. By treatment with hot water, starch granules have been shown to consist of at least two components, known as amylopectin and amylose. Amylopectin is a branched glucose polymer; amylose is a linear glucose polymer. Commercially starch is prepared chiefly from corn and potatoes. Starch is widely used for sizing paper and textiles, for stiffening laundered fabrics, in the manufacture of food products, and in making dextrin. In addition to its other uses, cornstarch is a source of corn syrup, of which large quantities are used in making table syrup, preserves, ice cream, and other confections. Corn sugar (glucose) is also derived from cornstarch. See also arrowroot.
Starch is a highly organized mixture of two carbohydrate polymers, amylose and amylopectin, which are synthesized by plant enzymes and simultaneously packed into dense water-insoluble granules. Starch granules vary in size (1 to 100 microns [μ m] in diameter) and shape, which are characteristic of their specific plant origin. Starch is the major energy reserve for plants; it is located mainly in the seeds, roots or tubers, stem pith, and fruit. Starch amylose is primarily a linear chain of glucose units. Amylose chains can coil into double helices and become insoluble in cold water. Amylopectin also is composed of chains of glucose units, but the chains are branched. This branched structure renders amylopectin soluble in cold water. The molecular architecture of the amylopectin and amylose within the granules is not entirely understood, but the granules are insoluble in cold water. The functional properties of native starch are determined by the granule structure. Both the appearance of the granules and their functional properties vary with the plant source.
Physical and Functional Properties
In home cooking and in commercial food processing native starches are used for their thickening properties. Starch granules when heated in water gradually absorb water and swell in size, causing the mixture to thicken. With continued heating however, the swollen granules fragment, the mixture becomes less thick, and the amylose and amylopectin become soluble in the hot mixture. This process of granule swelling and fragmenting is called gelatinization. Once gelatinized the granules cannot be recreated and the starch merely behaves as a mixture of amylose and amylopectin. Because of the larger size of the swollen granules compared to the size of amylose and amylopectin, the viscosity of the swollen granule mixture is much higher than the viscosity (the resistance to flow or a liquid or semi-liquid mixture) of the amylose/amylopectin mixture. Starches from different plant sources vary in their gelatinization temperatures, rate of gelatinization, maximum viscosity, clarity of the gelatinized mixture, and ability to form a solid gel on cooling.
The texture of heat-gelatinized starch mixtures is variable. Some gelatinized starch mixtures have a smooth creamy texture, while others are more pastelike. Some starches form gels after cooking and cooling. These starch gels may lack stability and slowly exude water through the gel surface. A similar breakdown of the gelatinized starch occurs in some frozen foods during thawing and refreezing. Although amylose is soluble in the hot gelatinized starch mixture, it tends to become insoluble in the cooled mixture. This phenomenon is called retrogradation and it occurs when the amylose chains bind together in helical and double helical coils. Retrogradation affects the texture of the food product and it also lowers the digestibility of the product. The proper starches must be employed for the different food products to minimize these problems. Certain starches are good film formers and can be used in coatings or as film barriers for protection of the food from oil absorption during frying.
Native and Modified Starches
The predominant commercial starches are those from field corn (maize), potato, cassava (tapioca), wheat, rice, and arrowroot. Field cornstarch (27 percent amylose and 73 percent amylopectin) is the major commercial starch worldwide. Genetic variants of field corn include waxy maize, which produces a starch with 98 to 100 percent amylopectin, and high-amylose starches, which have amylose contents of 55 percent, 70 percent, and higher. Waxy starch does not form gels and does not retrograde readily. High-amylose starches retrograde more extensively than normal starches and are less digestible. Their linear structure enables them to form films.
From the 1940s on the demand for convenience foods, dry mixes, and various processed foods has led to the modification of starches for food use and for other commercial products. These modified starches improve the textural properties of food products and may be more suitable for use in modern processing equipment. The Food and Drug Administration regulates use of the various modified food starches by stipulating the types of modification allowed, the degree of modification, and the reagents used in chemical modification. However, the food label is required only to state that "modified starch" is present. Only a small fraction of the sites available for modification of the food starches are actually modified. Although the degree of modification is small, the properties of the starches are significantly improved. This small degree of modification is sufficient to give a more soluble and stable starch after cooking. The clarity of the gelatinized starch as well as the stability of the cooked starch and starch gels are improved. The modification procedures are carried out under mild conditions that do not cause gelatinization of the native starch granules, and therefore the functional properties of the granule are preserved. The emulsifying properties of starch also may be improved by proper modification, improving the stability of salad dressings and certain beverages.
Physically modified starches include a pregelatinized starch that is prepared by heat-gelatinization and then dried to a powder. This instant starch is water-soluble and doesn't require further cooking. Because of its lower viscosity resulting from loss of granule structure, the starch can be used at higher concentrations. Certain confectionaries require high levels of starch to give structure to their products. These gelatinized instant starches serve this role. Cold water swelling starches represent a different type of instant starch. They are made by a proprietary process that retains the granule structure but lowers the granule strength. These cold water swelling starches give higher viscosities than the other instant starches. They are used in instant food mixes and for products such as low-fat salad dressings and mayonnaise.
Plant breeding has led to specialty starches with atypical proportions of amylose and amylopectin. Waxy maize starch with nearly 100 percent amylopectin is inherently stable to retrogradation. Chemically cross-linked waxy maize starch is a very high-quality modified starch. High-amylose starches have become available more recently and have led to lower caloric starches. Because of the crystallinity of these starches they are partially resistant to digestion by intestinal amylases and behave as dietary fiber when analyzed by the official methods of analysis for dietary fiber. Some of these high-amylose starches contain as high as 60 percent dietary fiber when analyzed.
The nutritional value of uncooked (ungelatinized) starchy foods (cereal grains, potato, peas, and beans) is relatively poor. Our digestive enzymes do not readily convert the native granular starch of uncooked fruits and vegetables into glucose that would be absorbed in the small intestine. Undigested starch passes into the large intestine where, along with dietary fiber, it is broken down to glucose and fermented to short-chain fatty acids. Some of these short-chain acids are absorbed from the large intestine resulting in recovery of some of the caloric value of the native starch.
Starch-Derived Dextrins and Corn Syrups
Modified starches as described above were developed to improve starch functionality in foods as well as their ability to withstand the physical forces of modern food processing systems. In addition to the food applications of starches and modified starches, the native starches are also converted into other products that serve food and other industries. These products do not require the granular character of native starches, which is lost by chemical or enzymic action during processing of the starch.
Dextrinization, a process requiring high temperatures and acid that has been in use since the early 1800s, converts native starch into dextrins that are composed of amylose and amylopectin chains of smaller sizes and altered structure. Consequently, food and nonfood industries have access to a range of dextrins of varying molecular sizes, solubility, and viscosity, but without the granular characteristics described above. Corn syrups are made in the same way as the dextrins, but they are converted to a higher degree such that glucose is a major ingredient. The more recent availability of an enzyme that converts glucose into fructose has led to a new industry in high-fructose corn syrups, which have found a strong market in beverages.
Bibliography
Frazier, Peter J., Peter Richmond, and Athene M. Donald, eds. Starch Structure and Functionality. Cambridge, U.K.: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1997.
Light, Joseph M. "Modified Food Starches: Why, What, Where, and How." Cereal Foods World 35 (1990): 1081–1092.
Murphy, Pauline. "Starch." In Handbook of Hydrocolloids, edited by Glyn O. Phillips and Peter A. Williams. Cambridge, U.K.: Woodhead Publishing; Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press LLC, 2000.
Thomas, David J., and William A. Atwell. Starches. St. Paul, Minn.: Eagan Press, 1999.
—Betty A. Lewis
1. any of a group of polysaccharides of the general formula, (C6H10O5)n; it is the chief storage form of carbohydrates in plants.
2. granular material separated from mature grain of Zea mays (Indian corn, or maize); used as a dusting powder and tablet disintegrant in pharmaceuticals.
- s. blockers — inhibitors of alpha-amylase, used to decrease starch digestion and limit energy intake from starch.
- s. digestion test, s. tolerance test — a test to assess the ability of the intestine to digest and absorb a polysaccharide. Efficiency measured by the rise in blood glucose after oral administration of starch to an animal that has been fasted.
- s. equivalent — an outmoded way of estimating and expressing the energy value of a feed. Replaced now by metabolizable energy.
- s. inhalation — can occur in pigs in a poorly ventilated environment and when the feed is fed dry. Causes foreign body pneumonia.
- s.–iodine complex — is a deep blue color and this is used as an indicator of the amount of starch in a solution.
- s. tolerance test — see starch digestion test (above).
Starch (CAS# 9005-25-8, chemical formula (C6H10O5)n,[1]) is a mixture of amylose and amylopectin (usually in 20:80 or 30:70 ratios). These are both complex carbohydrate polymers of glucose (chemical formula of glucose C6H12O6), making starch a glucose polymer as well, as seen by the chemical formula for starch, regardless of the ratio of amylose:amylopectin.
The word is derived from Middle English sterchen, meaning to stiffen, which is appropriate since it can be used as a thickening agent when dissolved in water and heated.
Starch in Food
In terms of human nutrition, starch is by far the most consumed polysaccharides in the human diet. It constitutes more than half of the carbohydrates even in many affluent diets, and much more in poorer diets. Traditional staple foods such as cereals, roots and tubers are the main source of dietary starch.
Starch (in particular cornstarch) is used in cooking for thickening foods such as sauce. In industry, it is used in the manufacturing of adhesives, paper, textiles and as a mold in the manufacture of sweets such as wine gums and jelly beans. It is a white powder, and depending on the source, may be tasteless and odourless.
Starch is often found in the fruit, seeds, rhizomes or tubers of plants and is what gives us energy when we eat these. The major resources for starch production and consumption worldwide are rice, wheat, corn, and potatoes. Cooked foods containing starches include boiled rice, various forms of bread and noodles (including pasta).
As an additive for food processing, arrowroot and tapioca are commonly used as well. Commonly used starches around the world are: arracacha, buckwheat, banana, barley, cassava, kudzu, oca, sago, sorghum, sweet potato, taro and yams. Edible beans, such as favas, lentils and peas, are also rich in starch.
When a starch is pre-cooked, it can then be used to thicken cold foods. This is referred to as a pregelatinized starch. Otherwise starch requires heat to thicken, or "gelatinize." The actual temperature depends on the type of starch.
A modified food starch undergoes one or more chemical modifications that allow it to function properly under high heat and/or shear frequently encountered during food processing. Food starches are typically used as thickeners and stabilizers in foods such as puddings, custards, soups, sauces, gravies, pie fillings, and salad dressings, but have many other uses.
Resistant starch is starch that escapes digestion in the small intestine of healthy individuals.
Plants use starch as a way to store excess glucose, and thus also use starch as food during mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation.
Non-food applications
Starch adhesive
Papermaking is the largest non-food application for starches globally, consuming millions of metric tons annually. In a typical sheet of copy paper for instance, the starch content may be as high as 8%. Both chemically modified and unmodified starches are used in papermaking. In the wet part of the papermaking process, generally called the “wet-end”, starches that have been chemically modified to contain a cationic or positive charge bound to the starch polymer, and are utilized to associate with the anionic or negatively charged paper fibers and inorganic fillers. These cationic starches impart the necessary strength properties for the paper web to be formed in the papermaking process (wet strength), and to provide strength to the final paper sheet (dry strength). In the dry end of the papermaking process the paper web is rewetted with a solution of starch paste that has been chemically, or enzymatically depolymerized. The starch paste solutions are applied to the paper web by means of various mechanical presses (size press). The dry end starches impart additional strength to the paper web and additionally provide water hold out or “size” for superior printing properties.
Corrugating glues are the next largest consumer of non-food starches globally. These glues are used in the production of corrugated fiberboard (sometimes called corrugated cardboard), and generally contain a mixture of chemically modified and unmodified starches that have been partially gelatinized to form an opaque paste. This paste is applied to the flute tips of the interior fluted paper to glue the fluted paper to the outside paper in the construction of cardboard boxes. This is then dried under high heat, which provides the box board strength and rigidity.
Another large non-food starch application is in the construction industry where starch is used in the or wall board manufacturing process. Chemically modified or unmodified starches are added to the rock mud containing primarily gypsum. Top and bottom heavyweight sheets of paper are applied to the mud formulation and the process is allowed to heat and cure to form the eventual rigid wall board. The starches act as a glue for the cured gypsum rock with the paper covering and also provide rigidity to the board.
Clothing starch or laundry starch is a liquid that is prepared by mixing a vegetable starch in water (earlier preparations also had to be boiled), and is used in the laundering of clothes. Starch was widely used in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries to stiffen the wide collars and ruffs of fine linen which surrounded the necks of the well-to-do. During the 19th century and early 20th century, it was stylish to stiffen the collars and sleeves of men's shirts and the ruffles of girls' petticoats by applying starch to them as the clean clothes were being ironed.
Aside from the smooth, crisp edges it gave to clothing, it served practical purposes as well. Dirt and sweat from a person's neck and wrists would stick to the starch rather than fibers of the clothing, and would easily wash away along with the starch. After each laundering, the starch would be reapplied.
Starch is also used to make some packing peanuts, and some dropped ceiling tiles.
Printing industry - in the printing industry food grade starch[2] is used in the manufacture of anti-set-off spray powder used to separate printed sheets of paper to avoid wet ink being set off. Starch is also used in the manufacture of glues[3] for book-binding.
Hydrogen production - Starch can be used to produce Hydrogen.[4]
Use as a mold
Gummed sweets such as jelly beans and wine gums are not manufactured using a mold in the conventional sense. A tray is filled with starch and leveled. A positive mold is then pressed into the starch leaving an impression of 1000 or so jelly beans. The mix is then poured into the impressions and then put into a stove to set. This method greatly reduces the number of molds that must be manufactured.
Tests
Starch solution is used to test for iodine. A blue-black color indicates the presence of iodine in the starch solution. It is thought that the iodine fits inside the coils of amylose.[5] A 0.3% w/w solution is the standard concentration for a dilute starch indicator solution. It is made by adding 4 grams of soluble starch to 1 litre of heated water; the solution is cooled before use (starch-iodine complex becomes unstable at temperatures above 35 °C). This complex is often used in redox titrations: in presence of an oxidizing agent the solution turns blue, in the presence of reducing agent, the blue color disappears because triiodide (I3−) ions break up into three iodide ions, disassembling the complex.
Under the microscope, starch grains show a distinctive Maltese cross effect (also known as 'extinction cross' and birefringence) under polarized light.
Starch derivatives
Starch can be hydrolyzed into simpler carbohydrates by acids, various enzymes, or a combination of the two. The extent of conversion is typically quantified by dextrose equivalent (DE), which is roughly the fraction of the glycoside bonds in starch that have been broken. Food products made in this way include:
- Maltodextrin, a lightly hydrolyzed (DE 10–20) starch product used as a bland-tasting filler and thickener.
- Various corn syrups (DE 30–70), viscous solutions used as sweeteners and thickeners in many kinds of processed foods.
- Dextrose (DE 100), commercial glucose, prepared by the complete hydrolysis of starch.
- High fructose syrup, made by treating dextrose solutions to the enzyme glucose isomerase, until a substantial fraction of the glucose has been converted to fructose. In the United States, high fructose corn syrup is the principal sweetener used in sweetened beverages because fructose tastes sweeter than glucose, and less sweetener may be used.
References
- ^ Raven, P.; Evert, R.; Eichhorn, S. (1999) Biology of Plants (6th edition) p. 910 Worth Publishers. ISBN 1-57259-041-6
- ^ Spray Powder. - Russell-Webb. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
- ^ Starch based glue. - ICI.
- ^ High-Yield Hydrogen Production from Starch and Water by a Synthetic Enzymatic Pathway. PLoS. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
- ^ [1]
External links
- Jones, Orlando, "US2000 Improvement in the manufacture of starch". (Class: 127/68; 48/119; 127/69). Middlesex, England, USPTO.
- Detailed description and pictures of starch molecular structure
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Dansk (Danish)
n. - stive
v. tr. - stivelse, stivhed
Nederlands (Dutch)
stijven, zetmeel
Français (French)
n. - fécule, amidon
v. tr. - amidonner, empeser
Deutsch (German)
n. - Stärke, Steifheit
v. - stärken
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - άμυλο, αμυλόκολλα, αμυλώδης τροφή, (μτφ.) τυπικότητα
v. - κολλαρίζω, κολλάρω
Italiano (Italian)
inamidare, amido
Português (Portuguese)
n. - amido (m), goma (f)
v. - engomar
Русский (Russian)
крахмал, чопорность, церемонность, крахмалить, накрахмаливать
Español (Spanish)
n. - almidón, fécula, rigidez, tiesura
v. tr. - almidonar
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - stärkelse, stelhet, formellt sätt, kläm, energi
v. - stärka ngt
中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
淀粉, 古板, 拘谨, 给上浆
中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 澱粉, 古板, 拘謹
v. tr. - 給上漿
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 녹말, (세탁용의) 풀, 거북살스러움
v. tr. - (옷에) 풀을 먹이다, 거북스럽게 하다, 격식을 차리다
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 澱粉, 洗濯のり, 元気, 堅苦しさ
v. - のり付けする
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) نشا, نشاء (فعل) يقوي الملابس ( ياقات القمصان مثلا) باستعمال النشا
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - עמילן, מזון עמילני, נוקשות, קשיחות, קפדנות
v. tr. - עמלן
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
To select your translation preferences click here.
Join the WikiAnswers Q&A; community. Post a question or answer questions about "starch" at WikiAnswers.
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved. Read more |
|
| Food and Fitness. Food and Fitness: A Dictionary of Diet and Exercise. Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
|
| Sports Science and Medicine. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. Copyright © Michael Kent 1998, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more |
 |
| Food & Culture Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Copyright © 2003 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
|
| Veterinary Dictionary. The Veterinary Dictionary. Copyright © 2007 by Elsevier. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Starch". Read more |
 |
| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |