Home > Maltodextrin-An Overveiw

What is maltodextrin?

Maltodextrin is a white powder that is relatively tasteless and dissolves in water. It is an additive in a wide range of foods, as it can improve their texture, flavor, and shelf life.

Maltodextrin is a common ingredient in packaged foods, such as pastries, candies, and soft drinks. When it is present, it will usually feature on the food label. Athletes may also use maltodextrin as a carbohydrate supplement.

Many people believe that maltodextrin is harmful to health. But how much truth is there to these claims?

It is possible to make maltodextrin from any starchy food, including corn, potato, wheat, tapioca, or rice. Although the powder comes from these natural products, it then undergoes processing.

To make maltodextrin, manufacturers put starch through a process called hydrolysis. Hydrolysis uses water, enzymes, and acids to break the starch into smaller pieces, resulting in a white powder consisting of sugar molecules.

People with celiac disease should be aware that maltodextrin can contain traces of gluten when wheat is the source of the starch. However, according to the Beyond Celiac charity, maltodextrin is gluten-free as long as the ingredients list does not include the word wheat.

In edible products, this powder can help by:

• thickening foods or liquids to help bind the ingredients together
• improving texture or flavor
• helping to preserve foods and increase their shelf life
• replacing sugar or fat in low-calorie, processed foods

Maltodextrin has no nutritional value. However, it is a very easy-to-digest carbohydrate and can provide energy rapidly. Due to this, manufacturers add this powder to many sports drinks and snacks.

Which foods contain maltodextrin?

Many people eat maltodextrin every day without realizing. Foods that often contain maltodextrin include:

• pasta, cooked cereals, and rice
• meat substitutes
• baked goods
• salad dressings
• frozen meals
• soups
• sugars and sweets
• energy and sports drinks

Some manufacturers also add maltodextrin to lotions, hair-care products, and livestock feed.

Is maltodextrin safe?

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), maltodextrin is a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) food additive.

However, if a person eats too many products that contain maltodextrin, their diet is likely to be high in sugar, low in fiber, and full of highly processed foods. This type of diet can increase a person’s risk of high cholesterol, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes.

Research has also linked maltodextrin with possible health risks. These include the following:

Maltodextrin and diabetes:

Maltodextrin has an even higher glycemic index (GI) than table sugar. This means that maltodextrin can cause a sharp increase, or spike, in people’s blood sugar shortly after they eat foods that contain it.

A spike in blood glucose can be particularly dangerous for people with diabetes or insulin resistance.

A high GI means that the sugars in these foods will quickly enter the bloodstream, where the body will absorb them. In contrast, complex carbohydrates, which include beans and whole-wheat pasta, are more healthful because the body absorbs them slowly. This makes people feel full for a more extended period.

Benefits of maltodextrin:

Maltodextrin is a cheap and effective food product that can improve the texture, taste, and shelf life of foods.

Many athletes and people who want to gain muscle or body weight use products containing maltodextrin as it is a rapid source of energy.

Maltodextrin as a thickener:

Maltodextrin can be used as a thickener. It has little sweetness at zero percent to five percent of the sweetness of sucrose, and with added water, it becomes sticky, viscous, and high-solids. This makes maltodextrin a great candidate to add thickness to various products. These same properties also allow maltodextrin to serve well as foam stabilizers, tackifiers, or binders. 

Carrier and bulking:

Maltodextrin can also be used as a filler, to add volume to products with limited flavor alterations. This is effective in a wide variety of products, and with many ingredients. For example, maltodextrin can be an extender for expensive ingredients, as well as a diluent for micro-ingredients. In these applications, maltodextrin is typically used in its powder form, and its dispersion properties provide an anti-caking quality.

Reducer of fat content in food products:

Given the physical characteristics of maltodextrin that contributes to the mouthfeel it lends products, maltodextrin can also be used to decrease the level of fat in a food product. This can be accomplished by replacing part of the fat in the product with maltodextrin. One study found that up to 50% of vegetable oil fat could be replaced by maltodextrin gels in a food product without compromising the quality.

Extender of shelf-life:

Maltodextrin will retrograde over time, similar to other starch products. However, it is helpful for moisture control and can extend the shelf-life of products in this way. Further, the film-forming properties of maltodextrin help to create food products that maintain an appealing appearance, such as by keeping icing in place or coating candy or cereal with an appetizing sheen.

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