MALTODEXTRIN

Maltodextrin is also used as a horticultural insecticide both in the field and in greenhouses.
Maltodextrin is also used as a substitute for lactose.
Maltodextrin is used to improve the texture and mouthfeel of food and beverage products, such as potato chips and "light" peanut butter to reduce the fat content.

CAS Number: 9050-36-6 
EC Number: 232-940-4
Chemical formula: C6nH(10n+2)O(5n+1)
Molar mass: Variable

SYNONYMS:
Dextrin, Hydrolyzed starch, Starch hydrolysate, Starch gum, Maltose dextrin, Corn syrup solids (partially hydrolyzed), White dextrin, Enzymatically hydrolyzed starch, Modified starch

If you regularly check the ingredients in your processed or packaged foods, you might have seen maltodextrin in them.
Food makers add maltodextrin to a wide variety of foods, like: Weight-training supplements, Yogurt, Nutrition bars, Chips, Sauces, Spice mixes, Cereals, Artificial sweeteners, Baked goods, Beer, Snack foods, Candies, and Soft drinks.

The FDA lists maltodextrin among the generally safe food additives.
Digestible Maltodextrin is well-defined chemically, understood, and documented.
By contrast, digestion-resistant maltodextrin – being the newer and more complex chemical family – are less defined chemically, researched and documented.

Maltodextrin is classified by a dextrose equivalent (DE),
a number between 3 and 20 that corresponds to the number of free chain ends in a certain sample.
A lower DE value means the polymer chains are longer (contain more glucose units) whereas a higher DE value means the chains are shorter.

This is an inverse concept compared with the degree of polymerization of the chain.
A high-DE maltodextrin is sweeter, more soluble, and has lower heat resistance.
Above DE 20, the European Union's CN code calls it glucose syrup; at DE 10 or lower, the customs CN code nomenclature classifies maltodextrins as dextrins.

Maltodextrin is a white powder made from corn, rice, potato starch, or wheat.
Even though Maltodextrin comes from plants, it’s highly processed.
The process of making Maltodextrin involves cooking the starches and then adding acids or enzymes, such as heat-stable bacterial alpha-amylase, to break it down further.

The resulting white powder, Maltodextrin is water soluble and has a neutral taste.
Maltodextrins are closely related to corn syrup solids.
The one difference is their sugar content.

Both undergo hydrolysis, a chemical process involving the addition of water to further assist breakdown.
However, after hydrolysis, corn syrup solids are at least 20% sugar, while maltodextrin is less than 20% sugar.

USES and APPLICATIONS of MALTODEXTRIN:
Maltodextrin is used to coat pills and tablets, and to formulate powders, in the manufacturing of prescription drugs and dietary supplement products.
Maltodextrin is also used as a horticultural insecticide both in the field and in greenhouses.

Having no biochemical action, maltodextrin's efficacy is based upon spraying a dilute solution upon the pest insects, whereupon the solution dries, blocks insect spiracles, and causes death by asphyxiation.
Maltodextrin has varied applications for food and beverage processing, including medical food, baby food, hospital food, and sports supplement products.

Maltodextrin is also used as a substitute for lactose.
Maltodextrin is used to improve the texture and mouthfeel of food and beverage products, such as potato chips and "light" peanut butter to reduce the fat content.

Maltodextrin is an effective flavorant, bulking agent, and sugar substitute.
Maltodextrin is easily digestible and can provide a quick source of food energy.
Due to its rapid absorption, maltodextrin is used by athletes as an ingredient in sports drinks or recovery supplements to replenish glycogen stores and enhance performance during prolonged exercise.

Maltodextrin can be taken as a dietary supplement in powder form, gel packets, energy drinks or oral rinse.
Maltodextrin has a high glycemic index of 110, compared to glucose (100) and table sugar (80).
In the United States, maltodextrin is considered a safe ingredient (GRAS) for food manufacturing.

-Food uses of Maltodextrin:
In the European Union, wheat-derived maltodextrin is exempt from wheat allergen labeling, as set out in Annex II of EC Regulation No 1169/2011.
In the United States, however, maltodextrin is not exempt from allergen declaration per the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, and its effect on a voluntary gluten-free claim must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis per the applicable FDA policy.

DIGESTION-RESISTANT MALTODEXTRIN:
Digestion-resistant maltodextrin is included among other sources as functional fiber, meaning its use in foods may provide improved function of the gastrointestinal system.

The low molecular weight, low viscosity, high water solubility, and resistance to enzymatic activity allow digestion-resistant maltodextrin to avoid digestion in the gastrointestinal tract.
Such properties may be advantageous to add digestion-resistant maltodextrin as a source of fermentable dietary fiber in food manufacturing, while maintaining the sensory qualities of processed foods.

Digestion-resistant maltodextrins, as prebiotic dietary fiber, are additives used in processed foods primarily as bulking agents or with the intent to confer a health effect.

The characteristics of digestion-resistant maltodextrins allow them to be added to diverse kinds of food products, such as beverages, dairy products, and desserts.
Digestion-resistant maltodextrins are also relatively low-calorie, colorless, odorless and tasteless.

Digestion-resistant maltodextrins are nontoxic, chemically stable, and nonreactive with other food ingredients over the range of temperatures required for food preparation and storage.
In Europe, the United States, and Canada, industrial digestion-resistant maltodextrin is recognized as a safe ingredient for food manufacturing.

WHY IS MALTODEXTRIN IN YOUR FOOD?
Maltodextrin is generally used as a thickener or filler to increase the volume of a processed food.
Maltodextrin’s also a preservative that increases the shelf life of packaged foods.

Maltodextrin’s inexpensive and easy to produce, so it’s useful for thickening products such as instant puddings and gelatins, sauces, and salad dressings.

Maltodextrin can also be combined with artificial sweeteners to sweeten products such as canned fruits, desserts, and powdered drinks.
Maltodextrin’s even used as a thickener in personal care items, such as lotion and hair care products.

DIGESTIBLE MALTODEXTRIN:
Maltodextrin consists of D-glucose units connected in chains of variable length.
The glucose units are primarily linked with α(1→4) glycosidic bonds, like those seen in the linear derivative of glycogen (after the removal of α1,6- branching).

Commercial maltodextrin is typically composed of a mixture of chains that vary from three to 17 glucose units long.
Properties of maltodextrin, such as sweetness, viscosity, and texture, can be manipulated during manufacturing by altering the extent of starch hydrolysis.

Maltodextrin is digested into glucose units, contributing a food energy value of 4 calories per gram (or 16 kiloJoules per gram).
Maltodextrin manufacturing produces a high-purity product with microbiological safety, making it applicable to varied food, beverage, sports, and baked products.

WHAT'S THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF MALTODEXTRIN?
Maltodextrin has 4 calories per gram — the same number of calories as sucrose, or table sugar.
Your body can digest maltodextrin quickly, just as it does sugar, so maltodextrin is useful if you need a quick boost of calories and energy.
However, Maltodextrin has a GI of 110, higher than table sugar.
This means Maltodextrin can raise your blood sugar level very quickly.

MALTODEXTRIN AS A CHEMICAL:
Maltodextrin is a name shared by two different families of chemicals.
Both families are glucose polymers (also called dextrose polymers or dextrins), but have little chemical or nutritional similarity.
The digestible maltodextrin (or simply maltodextrins) is manufactured as white solids derived from chemical processing of plant starches.

Maltodextrin is used as food additives, which are digested rapidly, providing glucose as food energy.
Maltodextrin is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for food and beverage manufacturing in numerous products.

Due to their rapid production of glucose, digestible maltodextrin is potential risks for people with diabetes.
The digestion-resistant maltodextrin (also called resistant maltodextrin) is defined as nutritional food additives due to their ability upon fermentation in the colon to yield short-chain fatty acids, which contribute to gastrointestinal health.

Digestion-resistant maltodextrin is also white solids resulting from the chemical processing of plant starches, but are processed using methods specifically to be resistant to digestion.
Maltodextrin is used as ingredients in many consumer products, such as low-calorie sweeteners, and are considered GRAS.
Consumers may find the shared name for different maltodextrin food additives to be confusing.

DIGESTION-RESISTANT MALTODEXTRIN:
Digestion-resistant maltodextrins are a chemical family much larger than the family of digestible maltodextrins.
A definition of a digestion-resistant maltodextrin is: "Resistant maltodextrin/dextrin is a glucose oligosaccharide.

Resistant maltodextrin and dextrin products are composed of non-digestible oligosaccharides of glucose molecules that are joined by digestible linkages and non-digestible α-1,2 and α-1,3 linkages."

The chemical is of greater structural complexity than a digestible maltodextrin.
The two families of maltodextrins have little in common chemically or nutritionally.

Names used to identify digestion-resistant maltodextrin as an ingredient in foods for regulatory purposes include soluble fiber, resistant dextrin, or dextrin.
Names may include the food starch used to fabricate the ingredient.

The chemical family has had a history of changes in classification.
As of 2023, a digestion-resistant maltodextrin is considered a resistant dextrin and a resistant starch of type 5.
Another study contrasted resistant dextrins and resistant maltodextrins, finding them to differ chemically and functionally.

In that study, the final maltodextrin product required further processing of the resistant dextrin.
The chemical family is effectively defined by the food starch and the manufacturing process, both of which may vary according to manufacturing preferences.

The digestion-resistant maltodextrin ingredient has several properties exploited in food or beverage manufacturing:
Maltodextrin is a low-moisture (5% water), free-flowing, fine white powder that disperses readily in water.
Maltodextrin is clear in solution with low viscosity.

Maltodextrin is odorless, slightly acidic, and has a bland flavor.
Maltodextrin is 90% dietary fiber.
The average molecular mass of the digestion-resistant maltodextrin molecule is 2,000 daltons.

Digestion-resistant maltodextrin is a soluble (fermentable) dietary fiber with numerous non-starch glycosidic bonds, allowing it to pass through the digestive tract unchanged in physical properties without undergoing digestion, supplying no food energy.
In the colon, Maltodextrin is a prebiotic fiber fermented by gut microbiota, resulting in the formation of short-chain fatty acids contributing to gastrointestinal health.

HISTORY OF MALTODEXTRIN:
After development of food ingredients from starch sources around 1950, digestible maltodextrins were first produced between 1967 and 1973.
Digestion-resistant maltodextrins were developed in the 1990s from studies of starch nutrition, leading to the definition of resistant starch.
This was accompanied by the detection of digestion-resistant components in food products and manufacturing methods.
Some sources typically referred to digestible maltodextrin when describing maltodextrin without further definition of which maltodextrin was used.

IS MALTODEXTRIN SAFE?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved maltodextrin as a safe food additive.
Maltodextrin is also included in the nutritional value of food as part of the total carbohydrate count.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, carbohydrates should make up 45% to 65% of your overall calories.

Ideally, most of those should be complex carbohydrates, which are rich in fiber, rather than simple carbohydrates, which quickly raise your blood sugar.
If you have diabetes or insulin resistance, or if your doctor has recommended a low carbohydrate diet, you should include any maltodextrin you eat in your total carbohydrate count for the day.

However, maltodextrin is usually present in foods in only small amounts.
It will not significantly affect your overall carbohydrate intake.
Maltodextrin has a high glycemic index (GI) value, which means it can cause a spike in your blood sugar.

Maltodextrin’s safe to consume in very small amounts, but people with diabetes should be particularly mindful of how much they consume.
Diets consisting largely of low GI foods are beneficial for everyone, not just people with diabetes.

HOW IS MALTODEXTRIN MADE?
Maltodextrin is a type of carbohydrate, but it undergoes intense processing.
Maltodextrin comes in the form of a white powder from rice, corn, wheat, or potato starch.

Maltodextrin's makers first cook it, then add acids or enzymes to break maltodextrin down some more.
The final product is a water-soluble white powder with a neutral taste.

Maltodextrin is used as an additive in the foods above to replace sugar and improve their texture, shelf life, and taste.
If you have celiac disease, be careful about eating foods with maltodextrin.
Maltodextrin powder has traces of gluten if maltodextrin's source is wheat.

MANUFACTURING OF MALTODEXTRIN:
Digestible maltodextrin production
Maltodextrin can be enzymatically derived from any starch, such as corn, potato, rice or cassava.

In the United States, this starch, Maltodextrin, is usually corn; in Europe, it is common to use wheat.
A food starch is boiled.
The resulting paste is treated with a combination of acid and enzymes to produce maltodextrins.

DIGESTION-RESISTANT MALTODEXTRIN PRODUCTION:
Digestion-resistant maltodextrins are manufactured by a process superficially similar to that for digestible maltodextrins.
A food starch is exposed to a combination of heat, acid and enzymes before purification.

Part of the process deliberately resembles human digestion – thus, the result is digestion-resistant by design.
Neither the food starch source nor the process is standardized.

A list of 14 preparation methods included three to four different methods, including microwave heating.
Similar methods differed in detail, possibly because methods are optimized for the plant starch source.

One study provided a detailed description of a laboratory method for producing digestion-resistant maltodextrins, combining several of the listed preparation methods.

A step in one method of preparing digestion-resistant maltodextrins is roasting the plant starch in acid conditions.
The process breaks the starch molecules into small units, which then recombine with different, more digestion-resistant bonds.
Enzymes can be used to break starches apart as an alternative to roasting.

A 2023 review found that use of different starch sources and different manufacturing techniques may produce digestion-resistant maltodextrins with varied properties, concluding that manufacturing methods for digestion-resistant maltodextrin lacked standardization.

Another 2023 review of methods examined digestion-resistant maltodextrins from three different starch sources (potato, cassava, and sweet potato) using identical manufacturing techniques.

The resulting digestion-resistant maltodextrins were measured to have small physical and chemical differences, such as in formation of dextrin crystals and surface porosity, digestion resistance (80-85%), thermal stabilities, solubility, and formation of pastes.
The significance of such differences to the quality of processed foods and health is unknown.
A third 2023 study showed maltodextrin digestion rates to be a function of molecular structure.

PHYSICAL and CHEMICAL PROPERTIES of MALTODEXTRIN:
Chemical formula: C6nH(10n+2)O(5n+1)
Molar mass: Variable
Appearance: White powder
Solubility in water: Free soluble or readily dispersible in water
Solubility: Slightly soluble to insoluble in anhydrous alcohol
CAS Number: 9050-36-6
EC Number: 232-940-4

FIRST AID MEASURES of MALTODEXTRIN:
-Description of first-aid measures
*General advice:
Show this material safety data sheet to the doctor in attendance.
*If inhaled:
After inhalation: 
Fresh air.
*In case of skin contact: 
Take off immediately all contaminated clothing. 
Rinse skin with
water/ shower.
*In case of eye contact:
After eye contact: 
Rinse out with plenty of water. 
Call in ophthalmologist. 
Remove contact lenses.
*If swallowed:
After swallowing: 
Immediately make victim drink water (two glasses at most). 
Consult a physician.
-Indication of any immediate medical attention and special treatment needed.
No data available

ACCIDENTAL RELEASE MEASURES of MALTODEXTRIN:
-Environmental precautions:
Do not let product enter drains.
-Methods and materials for containment and cleaning up:
Cover drains. 
Collect, bind, and pump off spills. 
Observe possible material restrictions. 
Take up dry. 
Dispose of properly. 
Clean up affected area.

FIRE FIGHTING MEASURES of MALTODEXTRIN:
-Extinguishing media:
*Suitable extinguishing media:
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 
Foam 
Dry powder
*Unsuitable extinguishing media:
For this substance/mixture no limitations of extinguishing agents are given.
-Further information:
Prevent fire extinguishing water from contaminating surface water or the ground water system.

EXPOSURE CONTROLS/PERSONAL PROTECTION of MALTODEXTRIN:
-Control parameters:
--Ingredients with workplace control parameters:
-Exposure controls:
--Personal protective equipment:
*Eye/face protection:
Use equipment for eye protection. 
Safety glasses
*Body Protection:
protective clothing
*Respiratory protection:
Recommended Filter type: Filter A 
-Control of environmental exposure:
Do not let product enter drains.

HANDLING and STORAGE of MALTODEXTRIN:
-Conditions for safe storage, including any incompatibilities:
*Storage conditions:
Tightly closed. 
Dry.

STABILITY and REACTIVITY of MALTODEXTRIN:
-Chemical stability:
The product is chemically stable under standard ambient conditions (room temperature) .
-Possibility of hazardous reactions:
No data available