What is Maltodextrin?
Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide sugar that is commonly used as an additive in sweets and beverages in the food industry. It is produced through partial hydrolysis of a starch. In simpler terms, this means that the chemical bonds of the starch are broken using water. For example, a sucrose sugar can be broken down into glucose and fructose through hydrolysis.
While maltodextrin can be derived from any starch, corn is the primary source of maltodextrin in the United States and wheat is the primary source in the United Kingdom. According to Wikipedia, wheat-derived maltodextrin is exempt from labeling in the European Union however it is not exempt in the United States.
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Is Maltodextrin Vegan?
Yes, maltodextrin is vegan-friendly! As maltodextrin is derived from starches, it always comes from plant sources as far as we can tell. We could not find any brands that were not vegan friendly in our research, but a list of verified vegan maltodextrin brands is below.
Is Maltodextrin Gluten-Free?
Yes, maltodextrin is also gluten-free. Even though maltodextrin can come from wheat starches, the nature of its processing makes it generally safe for people who are celiac or have a non-celiac gluten sensitivity. As we noted in the first section, companies are not required to label the source of maltodextrin in the EU so care should be taken if you are concerned about cross contamination. As always, some ingredients are processed in facilities that could have cross-contamination with gluten contain products. Therefore, a list of gluten-free maltodextrin brands is listed in the following section.
Gluten-Free and Vegan Maltodextrin Brands
As there can be some cross-contamination in the processing facilities, we have verified 5 companies to have both vegan and gluten-free maltodextrin. These companies are as follows:
- Bulk Supplements
- Earthborn Elements (Non-GMO)
- Now Sports (Non-GMO)
- Nutricost (Non-GMO)
- Pure
