Starch oral solids

Starch is used as an excipient primarily in oral solid-dosage formulations where it is utilized as a binder, diluent, and disintegrant. 

Pregelatinized starch and starch are widely used in oral solid-dosage formulations. Pregelatinized starch is generally regarded as a nontoxic and nonirritant excipient. However, oral consumption of large amounts of pregelatinized starch may be harmful. 

Since some of these medications were given orally, solid dosage forms were already prepared early in human history by the tribal medicine people, because fine powders can not be swallowed easily and the concoctions often had a bad taste. To that end, the powdered drugs were mixed with binders, for example starch (flour) and water or honey, and rolled into spherical pills. Honey was often also used to mask the taste. Because the pills thus produced were still sticky after rolling, they were sometimes coated, for example with pollen, to render them dry and easily storable. 

Nalidixic acid is another example of BCS class II drug, with oral bioavailability limited by poor solubility and slow dissolution (40). Compared to drug powder alone, the solid dispersion of nalidixic acid with P-cyclodextrin or PYP or sodium starch glycolate had much faster dissolution. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the formation of amorphous areas and less degree of crystallinity in the solid dispersion of nalidixic acid with excipients. 

Prinz IF, deWijk RA. Sensory correlation of glucose levels in a starch-based semi-solid model system before and after alpha-amylase breakdown. Archives of Oral Biology 2007, 52,168-172. Note that the amylase content of saliva from the mouth readily converts starch to glucose. 

Starch is a storage carbohydrate consisting of glucose monomers organized as amylose and amylopectin chains. Starches are used in solid oral formulations as diluents, binders and disintegrants. Deficient flow properties of natural starches... 

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