[Fine Chemicals] What is maltodextrin in food ingredient lists? A detailed explanation
What is maltodextrin? It's a polysaccharide, a carbohydrate made up of many other sugar molecules. To understand it better, let's quickly go over the three types of sugar molecules: Monosaccharides are carbohydrates made of just one sugar molecule (like glucose or fructose). Oligosaccharides are made of 2–10 monosaccharide molecules—sucrose, for example, is glucose plus fructose. Polysaccharides are made of 10 or more sugar molecules, like starch, cellulose, and maltodextrin. Maltodextrin falls into that last category because it's a long chain of repeating glucose molecules linked together.
To make pure maltodextrin, starchy foods like wheat, corn, potato, and rice are cooked in water, then exposed to various acids and enzymes to separate the maltodextrin from other sugars. This process is called hydrolysis, and it's also used to make other products—what we commonly call hydrolyzed whey protein powder uses the same hydrolysis process. During this process, the liquid containing maltodextrin is purified, filtered, and spray-dried to form a white, nearly tasteless powder.
Nutritionally, maltodextrin has basically no vitamins or minerals—about 95% is carbohydrate and 5% is water. As you probably know, each gram of carbohydrate has 4 kcal. So 1 g of maltodextrin contains 0.95 g carbohydrate and about 3.8 kcal. Like glucose, white bread, and other simple carbs, maltodextrin has a high glycemic index (GI) of around 100. That's because maltodextrin molecules are quickly broken down into smaller glucose units in the gut and absorbed right away, causing blood sugar to spike.
Which foods contain maltodextrin? Although the fitness world usually only associates it with sports performance, it actually has several other uses. More specifically, maltodextrin is often added to foods to preserve flavor, thicken products by helping other ingredients bind, improve texture and mouthfeel, extend shelf life, and replace sugar or fat while maintaining texture and structure. With that in mind, many processed foods and drinks contain maltodextrin—including low-calorie sweeteners, sports drinks, various sauces, dairy products, breakfast cereals, protein powders and bars, and baby food.
So what effect does maltodextrin have on our body composition or health? Is it safe? According to the US FDA, maltodextrin is a generally recognized as safe food additive that's easy to digest and non-toxic. Similarly, a 2016 assessment by scientists at the Nestlé Research Center found that replacing glucose with maltodextrin appeared to have no positive or negative health effects [1]. Of course, keep in mind that according to the World Health Organization, "free sugars" should not exceed 10% of our total daily energy intake. Eating too many simple sugars means lots of calories, which leads to a calorie surplus and weight gain.
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