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Zach Walsh
Dr. Baker
Cell Bio 214
Title:
Concentration of Starch in Our Food
Abstract:
Experiments were done to better understand how to figure out how many carbohydrates,
most specifically starch, there were in food. Being able to see how many carbohydrates
are in food is important for people who are on low-carb diets to lose weight or for health
reasons. Starch is a storage molecule that comes in two forms: amylose and amylopectin.
The amount of starch can be figured out by a Lugols iodine test which tests to see how
much amylose is in the solution or food. When it is added, it will change colors going
from yellow to blue or dark blue depending on how much starch/amylose is present.
Hypothesized that the Lugols iodine test would give an accurate amount of actual starch
concentration in food. Two solutions were made of either cooked or uncooked starch and
increasing amounts of concentration from each type were tested. Absorbency was
measured by a spectrophotometer that looks at the coloring of the solution and for our
results it looked at it at 620 nm. Standard curve graphs were made for both cooked and
uncooked data. The absorbency was measured against the concentration. The equation
for the best-fit line was found for both graphs. Theoretical percent yield was calculated
by using the foods nutrition label and then compared with the actual percent yield. Major
differences were found between the two yields. The hypothesis that the iodine test was
able to give an accurate amount of starch content in food was rejected. The iodine test
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only tested the solution for amylose starch, which is only about 20% of starch found in
food.
Introduction:
Are you on a diet? Most diets these days eliminate or greatly reduce the amount of
carbohydrates in a persons meal. They reduce them because carbohydrates are
polysaccharides that store energy, the most important one for us is starch. Starch is
comprised of large units of glucose joined by glycosidic bonds. It is the most common
carbohydrate found in our diets and is present in large amounts in common foods like
potatoes, wheat and corn. It comes in two forms: amylose and amylopectin. Amylose is
linear and forms a helix while amylopectin is branched. When too much starch is
present, our bodies store it as fat and save it for later use. The build up of fat can cause
health problems later on in life. Obesity creates wear on the joints, leading to
osteoarthritis. The accumulation of fat around the windpipe can interfere with breathing
when muscles relax in sleep (Underwood 2). By consuming less starch the body begins
to break down the starch that it has stored as fat to use as energy. To see how many
carbohydrates are consumed in a particular food, look at the nutrition label. Knowing
how much starch and other carbohydrates are in food allows for people to monitor their
diet and help them stay healthy.
We performed our experiments to determine how much starch is present in various foods
that are consumed regularly. In our first experiment we took known cooked and
uncooked starch concentrations in mg/ml and determined their absorbency by performing
a Lugols iodine starch test. The iodine reagent was added to the solutions and if a blue-
black color results if starch is present. If starch amylose is not present, then the color will
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stay orange or yellow. Starch amylopectin does not give the color, nor does cellulose, nor
do disaccharides such as sucrose in sugar (Ophardt). The test determines if starch is
present or not and if it is present the results can be used in a spectrophotometer to get its
absorbency at 620 nm. Using the data that we got from our experiment we created
concentration curves for cooked and uncooked starch. The concentration of starch was
the independent variable and absorbency was the dependent variable. We continued our
experiment and figured out the absorbency of six foods that we then compared to the
concentration curves to figure out their starch content. For our second experiment we
used food that we brought in and made them into solutions. We basically performed the
same steps as the ones from our first experiment. However, we tested each food three
times for more accurate results. Using the results we calculated the actual concentration
of starch and compared them to the theoretical concentrations that were taken from the
nutrition labels. The purpose of performing experiment 1 was to learn how to do an
iodine starch test to determine starch content (BG214 Lab Handout, 2012). Using the
experience and knowledge that we gained from experiment 1 we created our own
experiment to figure out the starch content in foods that are consumed regularly. By
comparing the theoretical and actual percent yield of starch concentrations we can
determine how accurate the iodine test is. We hypothesized that Lugols iodine test is a
good indicator for figuring out the actual percent yield concentrations and gave values
close to the theoretical percent yield in food.
Methods and Procedures:
Uncooked Starch test: 8 test tubes were taken and labeled A-H and had a stock solution
of starch [1 mg/ml] added to it mixed with distilled water so that the tubes concentrations
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(mg/ml) were Tubes H 0, G .1, F .2, E .3, D .4, C .5, B .6 and A .7 respectively. Each
tube had a final volume of 20 ml. 1 ml of iodine solution was added to each tube and if
the solution turned black then a + was recorded to indicate starch was present and if it
remained yellow a was recorded to indicate the absence of starch. The absorbency was
then determined by using a spectrophotometer set at 620 nm. Set at 620 nm because
thats the frequency of blue light which is the color the solution turns if starch is present.
Each tube was placed in the spectrophotometer after being wiped down with kim wipes to
ensure that the tubes were clean. The tube whose starch concentration was 0 mg/ml, was
used as the blank and used between each sample. The absorbencies of the tubes were
then recorded.
Cooked Starch test: The same procedure and methods were used with the cooked
experiment as in the uncooked experiment except for the final starch concentrations. The
tubes final starch concentrations in mg/ml were: Tube A .35, B .30, C .25, D .20, E .15, F
.10, G .05 and H 0 and they had a final volume of 20 ml.
Quantitative Comparisons: 12 test tubes were taken, 6 of them were labeled #1-6 A and
the rest were labeled #1-6 B. 20 ml of a different solution, whose concentration was
1g/1L of water, was added to each tube. Tubes #1 received potato juice, #2 onion juice,
#3 gravy, #4 milk, #5 Karo syrup and #6 was unknown. 1 ml of iodine solution was then
added to the tubes labeled A while tubes B were left alone so that they could function as
blanks for their corresponding tubes. Absorbencies were taken using the
spectrophotometer set at 620 nm.
Composition of our Food: Foods that were tested were a bagel, sugar cookie, orange
juice, dog food and apple jacks. The foods were crushed up using a mortal and pestal and
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1 gram of food was measured out using an electronic balance and then added to 1,000 ml
of water and liquefied using a blender. 20 ml of each solution was then added to 2 test
tubes either A or B, 10 test tubes total. 1 ml of Lugols iodine reagent was then added to
the A tubes. B tubes left alone, they functioned as Blanks. The tubes absorbencies were
then taken at 620 nm and recorded. Process was repeated an additional 2 more times for
accurate readings. The theoretical percent yield of starch content is calculated by:
(Carbohydrates (Dietary Fibers + Sugars) / Total mass of 1 serving size) x 100.
Standard curve of uncooked starch: y = .482x
Standard curve of cooked starch: y = 6.2071x
The actual/tested value of starch content was given by substituting y with the absorbency
value, then solve for x by dividing both sides by the rate of change. Then multiply what x
equals by 100 to get the percent yield starch concentration for that food.
Results:
The concentration curves for cooked and uncooked have a positive linear trend so that as
the concentrations increased, the absorbencies increased as well (Figure 1, 2). The line
that best fit each data set is linear meaning that it changes at a constant rate. The standard
curve keeps potential mistakes or inaccuracies in check as well as prevent overlapping
standard error bars from affecting the significance of the data.










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Figure 1. Standard curve of uncooked starch

Figure 1. Known starch concentration in the uncooked foods was represented by an
absorbency value. R^2 shows how close of a fit the data is to the line, the closer to 1, the
better fit. R^2 of .98 is high showing that the data is close.


Table 1. Uncooked starch concentrations and absorbency data for uncooked
concentration curve.
Tube Starch Concentration (mg/ml) Absorbency @ 620 nm Standard Error
A .7 .354 .047
B .6 .263 .0204
C .5 .258 .0245
D .4 .186 .0163
E .3 .136 .0100
F .2 .1 .0100
G .1 .046 .0040
H 0 .002 .0020
Table 1.











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Figure 2. Standard curve of cooked starch

Figure 2. Known starch concentration in cooked food was represented by an absorbency
value. R^2 shows how close of a fit the data is to the line, the closer to 1, the better fit.
R^2 of .99 is extremely high indicating how close a fit the data is. The standard error bars
do not overlap meaning that all of the data points are statistically significant.



Table 2. Cooked starch concentration and absorbency data for cooked concentration
curve.
Tube Starch Concentration (mg/ml) Absorbency @ 620 nm Standard Error
A .35 2.16 .117
B .30 1.84 .111
C .25 1.55 .105
D .20 1.26 .086
E .15 .97 .071
F .10 .64 .047
G .05 .31 .022
H 0 0 .001









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Table 3. Starch concentration test data of different foods.
Food +/- Test
Average
Absorbency @ 620
nm
Actual % yield of
Starch
Concentration
Theoretical % yield
of Starch
Concentration
Potato Juice
(cooked)
++ 2.473 39.84% 68.18%
Powdered
Milk
(uncooked)
- .069 14.32% 0.0%
Onion Juice
(uncooked)
- .043 8.92% 0.0%
Karo Syrup
(uncooked)
- .053 10.99% 26.67%
Gravy
(cooked)
+ 1.08 17.40% 4%
Sugar Cookie
(cooked0
+ .2405 3.87% 26.67%
Minute Maid
Orange Juice
(uncooked)
- .0605 12.55% 1.67%
Bagel
(cooked)
++ .427 6.88% 35.63%
Apple Jacks
(cooked)
+++ 1.1645 18.76% 34.72%
Dog Food
(cooked)
+ .2245 3.62%
Table 3. Actual % yield gives the percent of starch in our foods we found in our solution.
Theoretical % yield gives the percent of starch that the nutrition labels give.

Discussion:
Our hypothesis was that the Lugols iodine test would be helpful in seeing if the
theoretical percent yield of starch concentration would be close to or match the actual
percent yield of starch concentration. There were large differences in our data that made
it hard to compare them. Powdered milk for example, has a theoretical yield of 0% while
our actual yield was 14.32%. These differences could be the cause of several factors
such as the fact that if the solution wasnt stirred before it was measured than the solution
could have had a lower concentration than the 1 mg/ml that was being tested for with the
iodine, lowering its absorbency. Another factor that could have had an affect is that the
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Lugols iodine test only responds to amylose in the food and it wont react to
amylopectin starch, which is also present in food. Starches are mixtures of amylose (10-
20%) and amylopectin (80-90%) (Ophardt). Since amylopectin is more abundant than
amylose, the nutrition label most likely did another test that included amylopectin in its
starch content not just amylose like in our experiment. Another thing that would have
given us different results is that there are so many different brands of food for one item
and the food can be produced in different places where they slightly vary how the food is
made causing a possible change in starch concentration. The nutrition label is made only
for that brand and its universal for that specific food or juice. Human error is another
reason why our data was off. When creating the solution not all of the solute could have
been dissolved when we tested the absorbencies. Our data did not support our hypothesis
because the iodine test wasnt able to accurately determine the total starch content in
food. It would be more effective for people to calculate the starch content from the foods
nutrition label.
References:
BG214 Lab Handout. Determining the Macromolecular Composition of Food. Feb. 16,
2012. Wofford College, Spartanburg, SC.
Ophardt, Charles E. Virtual ChemBook. Elmhurst: Elmhurst College, 2003. Electronic.
Underwood, Anne and Jerry Adler. What You Dont Know About Fat. Newsweek
2006: WK 3. Electronic.