Modified starch

An ancient way of modifying starch is malting grain, which humans have done for thousands of years.

In recent centuries, humans have expanded their repertoire of starch-modifying methods by learning how to use simple substances such as acids, alkalis, and enzymes from nature to modify starches in tailored ways.

[4] A suitably modified starch is used as a fat substitute for low-fat versions of traditionally fatty foods,[5] e.g. industrial milk-based desserts like yogurt[6] or reduced-fat hard salami[7] having about 1/3 the usual fat content.

[8] Modified starch acts as an emulsifier for French dressing by enveloping oil droplets and suspending them in the water.

Carboxymethylated starches are used as a wallpaper adhesive, as textile printing thickener, as tablet disintegrants and excipients in the pharmaceutical industry.

Cationic starch is used as wet end sizing agent in paper manufacturing.