Effects of extrusion treatment on physicochemical properties and in vitro digestion of pregelatinized high amylose maize flour

•The greater DG of extruded maize flour, the greater disruption level.•Extrusion decreases the viscosity of NMF and HAMF.•The SP of NMF and HAMF increases, while extruded flours decrease.•EHAMF retains higher RS than NMF under the same extrusion condition.

High amylose maize flour (HAMF), normal maize flour (NMF), extruded normal maize flour (ENMF) and extruded high amylose maize flour (EHAMF) were employed to analyze the effects of the extrusion process on their physicochemical properties and in vitro digestion. The disruption degree of NMF and HAMF under extrusion followed the degree of gelatinization order. HAMF and EHAMF had higher onset temperature, peak temperature and conclusion temperature but lower melting enthalpies in comparison with NMF and ENMF. Extrusion treatment decreased viscosity and transformed A-type and B-type starch in NMF and HAMF into B + V-type. The solubility of all samples and swelling power of NMF and HAMF showed an increase, while swelling power of extruded maize flour decreased with increasing temperature. HAMF and EHAMF had a higher content of resistant starch but a lower content of slowly digestible starch and rapidly digestible starch than NMF and ENMF.