The incredible bulk: Swetha Sivakumar on maltodextrin
The lab-made substance is highly soluble and easily digestible like a sugar, adds viscosity like a starch, making it ideal for use in a range of packaged foods.
It’s in pills, sports drinks and blended cappuccinos. Examine the ingredients of packaged foods, and maltodextrin seems to be all over. Why? Because it sits in a sweet spot between sugars and starches, and this gives it a set of properties that other carbohydrates (in isolation) do not possess.
Maltodextrin is used as a thickening or bulking agent in energy drinks, ready-soup packets, pharmaceuticals and artificial sweeteners. (Images: Adobe Stock)
Let me explain. There are two types of sugars, in terms of molecular structure. The first consists of monosaccharides (such glucose and fructose), which are one unit long, and disaccharides (such as sucrose and lactose), which are two units long. The second type is anything longer, which is classified as a polysaccharide. Sugars are, of course, soluble in water.
Starches, on the other hand, are long chains of glucose, with several thousand units per chain. In their native state, they are hard to break down, indigestible and insoluble in water. When heat is applied, they absorb water, swell in a process called gelatinisation, and become digestible. Cooked starches are therefore also used to thicken foods.
Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide in which each chain consists of two to 20 units. Like a sugar, it is highly soluble and easily digestible in raw form. Like a starch, it can add viscosity, and has no flavour of its own. These properties make it ideal for use in a range of food products.
Incidentally, in nature, maltodextrin sometimes occurs as an intermediate stage, when certain starches are being digested. The version that features in our packaged foods is a lab-made additive. As such, it can be tinkered with, to behave more like sugars (more soluble, more heat-sensitive, etc) or more like starches (more viscous, with greater binding power, etc), as needed.
Commercial production of maltodextrin began in the mid-1900s, when the food industry was looking for processed starches to use to give products more volume. The substance is made by taking starch molecules from plants such as corn, wheat, rice, potatoes and tapioca, and breaking them down into shorter chains, using enzymes or acids.
The beverages segment loves this product for how it makes packaged drinks viscous when mixed with a liquid. It is added to ready-milkshake mixes too, for a creamier mouthfeel.
The artificial and natural flavours industry uses the substance to convert flavoured liquids into powders; maltodextrin serves as the bulking agent, acting as a carrier for that flavour. These flavours can include bacon fat, peanut butter, sesame oil — dehydrate, add the bulking agent, and suddenly each is a sprinklable powder that is soluble in a liquid.
Such powders have a delicious mouthfeel too. As soon as they touch the tongue, they melt away in the saliva, leaving pure flavour behind.
The artificial-sweeteners industry leans heavily on maltodextrin. Lab-made sweeteners such as aspartame, saccharin and sucralose are typically several hundred times sweeter than sugar. Just a pinch is often enough for a mug of coffee. But a pinch cannot be packaged in a sachet, so a bulking agent such as this one is added. Artificial sweeteners also have an aftertaste that can be made more palatable with the addition of such a neutral substance.
The pharmaceutical industry uses maltodextrin as a binder and filler in tablets and capsules. Its ability to disintegrate rapidly when exposed to moisture helps ensure the complete release of drugs too.
The sports drinks and nutritional supplement industry uses it for its rapid digestion and absorption properties. Athlete Anna Ploszajski, for instance, swam the English Channel in 2018 with the aid of a maltodextrin solution (the substance acts like a glucose shot, but without the excessive sweetness on the tongue) every hour, across her nearly-16-hour feat.
A number of endurance athletes use maltodextrin in this way too, proving once again that foods viewed with suspicion in the mainstream can actually be useful in a specific context. It is only when we start overusing them — whether maltodextrin, sugars, salts or fats — that we place our bodies in danger.
(To reach Swetha Sivakumar with questions or feedback, email upgrademyfood@gmail.com)
E-Paper
