Abstract:

HPLC-RI and routine chemical methods were used to investigate the relationship between the types of carbohydrate and the digestion-resistant properties in chestnut in this paper. Results showed that chestnut was composed of 35.77% starch and 30.16% amylase. Fresh chestnut had 27.44% resistant starch, accounting for 68.93% of total starch; however, ripe chestnut had 5.46% resistant starch, accounting for 13.36% of total starch. The content of resistant starch in ripe chestnut exhibited an increase trend. The content of resistant starch was increased from 14.66% to 20.15% within 48 h. The soluble sugar in chestnut mainly included sucrose, rhamnose, glucose, fructose, maltose and raffinose, while raffinose could not be digested and absorbed in human body. Therefore, the resistant starch and raffinose with high content is the major reason why fresh chestnut is difficult to digest and ripe chestnut is easy to induce flatulence.

Key words: chestnut, soluble sugar, resistant starch