Effects of heat treatment at different moisture of mung bean flour on the structural, gelation and in vitro digestive properties of starch

[Display omitted] •Moisture content is vital for starch-lipid/protein interaction during heating.•Two gel textures appeared at different moisture levels: soft solids and pasty fluids.•Starch-lipid/protein interactions decreased starch digestion rate. Effects of heat treatment (100 °C) at different moisture content (13–70 %) on the structural, gelation and digestive properties of starch in real mung bean flour (MBF) systems are investigated. The results showed that the structural destruction of the starch, the starch-lipid complexion and starch-protein interaction were promoted with increasing moisture content. The starch-protein interaction was mainly driven by hydrophobic interaction forces, leading the increase of total phase transition enthalpy. Even though starch retained ordered structure after heating at 50 %–70 % moisture, the typical pasting curve almost disappeared. The less leached amylose to construct the continuous phase, and more flexible amylopectin swollen granules dispersed in the matrix may weakened the viscoelasticity of the gels. As a result, two distinct gel textures were presented: soft solids with good water-binding capacity (below 30 %) and pasty fluids (above 40 %). Starch-lipid/protein interactions were demonstrated to retard the digestion rate of starch during MBS gelatinization according to the two-stage first-order kinetic and LOS (logarithm of the slope) models.