AMID is an important product in the herbalist, but also dietary and cosmetic field, because it can give both derivatives, such as monosaccharides (glucose), disaccharides and oligosaccharides, but it can also be used directly for its homogeneous polysaccharide characteristics.
Starch (in particular amylose) dissolves at high temperatures, close to boiling water; then, if it returns to room temperature, it forms the so-called starch salda, that is a partial condensation of the starch, which also acquires a certain insolubility in water, associated with its hygroscopicity.
A starch that has a different amylose / amylopectin ratio expresses differently the physico-chemical properties exploited on a technical level, for example in the use of starch as an excipient to give shape, structure, consistency to products of a cosmetic, dietary or herbal nature. .
Starch can also be modified; in this case the source is taken and modified genetically, through mutations induced at biotechnological level, to produce a starch with a particularly functional amylose / amylopectin ratio. It is also possible to treat the extracted starch, obtained from the drug, with high temperatures, close to those of boiling, to obtain a pre-gelatinized starch, or a product that has a particular compactness (used in the formulation of certain products to which it gives this its compactness). The same is true for cross-linked or hydrolysed starch, ie chemically and physically treated with reagents (hypochlorite), or with particular temperatures, to give chemical-physical characteristics suitable for dietary, herbal and cosmetic use; its vast use profile is due to its properties as a hygroscopic agent or as an agent with gelatinizing characteristics (compactness) to be transferred to the product.
