Pregelatinized starch

Why You Need It

• Effortless Mixing: It prevents clumping, ensuring your shakes and powders dissolve instantly.
• Digestive Comfort: As a form of cooked starch, it is gentle on the stomach and easier to digest than raw starches.
• Clean Label Support: It acts as a natural binder, holding tablets together without synthetic glues.
• Stable Texture: It maintains consistency in foods, resisting heat and acidity better than regular starch.

Deep Dive

Pregelatinized starch is essentially a 'pre-digested' carbohydrate. Through physical processing (heat and pressure), the starch granules are swollen. When you consume it, your body doesn't have to work as hard to break it down compared to raw starch found in uncooked potatoes or corn. In the context of dietary supplements, it serves a vital functional role: it ensures that the active ingredients you are taking are delivered consistently. Without it, a capsule might not disperse properly in your gut, or a powder might form an unappealing sludge. It is the unsung hero of a high-quality supplement formulation.

Natural Food Sources

While 'Pregelatinized Starch' is a processed ingredient, it is made exclusively from whole foods. You consume it whenever you eat foods that have been thickened or textured using modified corn, potato, or tapioca starch. You can also find the precursor (natural starch) in these whole foods:

Supplementation

Dosage: There is no Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for Pregelatinized Starch as it is a functional food additive, not a nutrient you are deficient in. It is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the FDA.

Who should take it?

• Athletes: Look for it in protein powders for better mixability.
• People with Swallowing Difficulties: It helps thicken liquids (in medical foods) to make swallowing safer.
• Supplement Users: It ensures the pills you take are effective and consistent.