Dextrin Health Dictionary

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Dextrin: From 1 Different Sources

n. a carbohydrate formed as an intermediate product in the digestion of starch by the enzyme amylase. Dextrin is used in the preparation of pharmaceutical products (as an *excipient) and surgical dressings.
Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

Starch

A substance belonging to that group of carbohydrate known as the amyloses. It is the form in which utilisable CARBOHYDRATE is stored in granules within the seeds and roots of many plants.

Starch is converted into sugar when treated with heat in presence of a dilute acid. It is changed largely into dextrin when exposed to a considerable degree of dry heat, as in toasting bread; and a similar change into dextrin and malt-sugar takes place under the action of various enzymes (see ENZYME) such as the PTYALIN of the SALIVA. Starch forms a chief constituent of the carbohydrate foods (see DIET); and in the process of digestion, the above-mentioned change takes place to prepare it for absorption. It is also slowly broken down in the process of cooking.

Starch is used as a constituent of dusting powders for application to chafed or irritable areas of the skin.... starch

Ipomoea Batatas

(Linn.) Lam.

Habitat: Native to tropical America; cultivated throughout India for edible tubers.

English: Sweet potato.

Ayurvedic: Mukhaaluka, Rataalu, Raktaalu, Raktapindaka, Raktakan- da.

Siddha/Tamil: Sakkareivelleikulan- gu.

Unani: Shakarkand, Rataalu.

Action: Root—used in strangury, urinary discharges, burning sensation, thirst. Whole plant—used in low fever and skin diseases.

Cooked tubers contain reducing sugars 6.45, sucrose 2.23, maltose 864, dextrins 0.51 and polysaccharides 14-13%. Cooking increases the sweetness as a result of the hydrolysis of starch to maltose and dextrins through the action of beta-amylase.

Sweet potatoes are rich in starch content. During the storage a part of starch content is converted into reducing sugars and subsequently into sucrose. In a sample stored for 5 months, the starch content was reduced from 19.1% to 14.1% while the percentage of reducing sugars (as dextrose) and sucrose increased from 0.9 to 1.7 and 1.9 to 6.1% respectively.

Indian types with white flesh contain little or no carotene, while American types with pink flesh contain as high as 5.4-7.2 mg/100 g of carotene. Vitamins present in the tubers are : thiamine 0.09-0.14, riboflavin 0.05-0.10 and vitamin C 16-22 mg/100 g.

The hot aqueous extract of leaves exhibits significant inhibitory activity of rat lens aldose reductase (AR). Ellagic and 3,5-dicaffoylquinic acids have been isolated as potent inhibitors.

The leaves also contain polysaccha- rides which increase the platelet count in experimental animals due to enhanced production ofthrombopoietin.

From the stem and root, hexadecyl, octadecyl and eicosyl p-coumarates have been isolated.

The tubers show significant lectin activity and exhibit haemagglutinating activity in trypsinized rabbit erythro- cytes.... ipomoea batatas

Microbicides

Gels or creams, currently under investigation, designed to reduce the risk of anal or vaginal transmission of viruses such as HIV (see also AIDS/ HIV). The aim is to kill or to inactivate the virus, creating a barrier to mucosal cells or preventing the infection from taking hold after it has entered the body. Large-scale trials were launched in Africa in 2004, using dextrin sulphate and PRO-2000 gel.... microbicides

Amylase

n. an enzyme that occurs in saliva and pancreatic juice and aids the digestion of starch, which it breaks down into glucose, maltose, and dextrins. Amylase will also hydrolyse *glycogen to yield glucose, maltose, and dextrins.... amylase

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