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Modified Starch

Level 4 — Significant concernsIn Winter's Dictionary2 sources

Modified Starch is a thickener gum — Starch chemically altered to modify thickening or jelling properties

What it does

Starch chemically altered to modify thickening or jelling properties

Where you'll see it

baby food, many processed foods, sauces, fillings

What the research says

Chemicals used to modify starch include propylene oxide, succinic anhydride, 1-octenyl succinic anhydride, alum, salt, and sodium hydroxide. Safety questions arose because babies lack adult resistance to chemicals. [ultra-processed-people] Chemically modified to give 'exactly the properties they required' — propylene oxide for gloopy salad dressings, phosphoric acid for freeze-thaw stability, acid-thinning for textile sizing. Allows cheap crops to replace eggs, dairy fat, oil. Listed among additives that 'affect the microbiome' alongside maltodextrins and gums. Marker of NOVA group 4; absorbed quickly, may bypass gut fullness signalling.

Regulatory status

  • US FDA: ASP
  • EU: approved
  • Notes: On FDA top priority list for re-evaluation since 1980; nothing new reported since

Sources

  • Ultra-Processed People (van Tulleken) — Chapter 2: The invention of UPF: Once you can modify a starch precisely, there's very little you can't do
  • A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives (Winter): Babies have difficulty digesting starch in its original form. Modified starch is used in baby food on the theory that it is easier to digest