Influence of corn variety, drying temperature, and moisture content at harvest on the saccharides released during an in vitro pepsin-pancreatin digestion

High-Performance Anion-Exchange Chromatography Coupled with Pulsed Amperometric
Detection (HPAEC-PAD) was used to quantify and to determine the nature of saccharides
released after the digestion of two corn grains submitted to different drying and harvesting
protocols. Five saccharides were quantified: glucose, maltose, isomaltose, maltotriose and
glucosyl-maltotriose. After a subsequent hydrolysis with amyloglucosidase of the released
sugar, the amount of total glucose recovered increased with the increase in drying temperature
and the moisture content of grain at harvest. These results suggest that structural changes
induced within corn starch granules during drying affect their hydrolysis by amylases. These
changes may lead to different pathways of sugar absorption in the small intestine of
monogastrics. Thus, corn grains with a similar composition may lead to different levels of
metabolizable energy upon gastro-intestinal digestion.