Recent Advances in Interactions between Milk Protein and Starch

The sensory and nutritional quality of starch-based foods depends on the changes of structure (granular and molecular structures) and physicochemical properties (gelatinization, rheological and digestion properties) of starch during processing. Milk protein can absorb on the surface of starch granule through hydrophobic interaction, thus inhibiting its water absorption capacity and accessibility to amylase; moreover, it can alter the rheological properties of starch by entangling with starch chains to form a strong or weak (phase separation) gel under the combined action of electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bond, and hydrophobic interaction. This article reviews the recent researches on the interactions between starch and milk protein as well as the effects of milk protein on the thermal, rheological, and digestion properties of starch, which classifies the mechanism on the interactions between starch and milk protein and provides a theoretical guide for using milk protein to improving the processing performance, sensory and nutritional quality of starch-based foods.