Rapeseed oil oleogel in maize tortillas: texture and starch
What it found
Adding a canola oil and candelilla wax oleogel to maize tortillas made them softer, stronger and less stale, and slowed starch breakdown in lab tests.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Slower starch digestion
In lab tests, tortillas with the oleogel had lower readily digestible and slowly digestible starch fractions than the control tortilla without oleogel.
Other findings
Softer, stronger tortillas
Tortillas with the oleogel were less hard and had greater tensile strength than tortillas without it.
Less starch retrogradation
Infrared analysis showed less retrogradation of starch chains in tortillas with the oleogel, measured as the 1047/1022 intensity ratio.
Possible reasons
The authors suggest the effect may come from amylose-lipid inclusion complexes and an oily physical barrier forming around starch granules.
What the authors conclude
“The formation of amylose-lipid inclusion complexes and the formation of an oily physical barrier around starch granules were postulated as mechanisms underlying the reduced starch digestibility.”
Also in their conclusions
- They propose that amylose-lipid inclusion complexes and an oily physical barrier around starch granules explain the reduced starch digestibility.
How it was done
Maize tortilla staling is a major drawback that affects its commercialization and consumption, so new ways to slow staling are being explored.
They added a canola oil/candelilla wax oleogel at 0, 2, 4 and 6 g per 100 g to a basic masa mix of water and nixtamalized maize flour, then cooked tortillas on a hot plate at 200 °C.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- The starch digestibility results come from lab tests, not from people eating the tortillas.
- This study did not measure how the tortillas affect blood sugar or health in people.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico; Jefatura de laboratorios de Química e Investigación. Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Mexico
The paper
- Title
- Canola oil/candelilla wax oleogel improves texture, retards staling and reduces in vitro starch digestibility of maize tortillas
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Vernon-Carter EJ, Alvarez-Ramirez J, Meraz M, Bello-Perez LA, Garcia-Diaz S (2020). Canola oil/candelilla wax oleogel improves texture, retards staling and reduces in vitro starch digestibility of maize tortillas. Journal of the science of food and agriculture. doi:10.1002/jsfa.10135PubMed 31696519DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error