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Published on: November 18, 2022
Food processing increases casein resistance to simulated infant digestion
Didier Dupont1, Giuseppina Mandalari, Daniel Mollé
1INRA, UMR1253 Science et Technologie du Lait et de l'Œuf,Rennes, France. didier.dupont@rennes.inra.fr
Molecular Nutrition & Food Research
|June 4, 2010
Summary
Milk processing impacts casein digestion resistance in infants. Heat treatment increases resistant casein fragments, potentially affecting allergenic potential.
Area of Science:
- Food Science
- Biochemistry
- Pediatric Nutrition
Background:
- Casein (CN) is a major milk protein, and its digestion is crucial for infant nutrition.
- Understanding factors influencing casein digestion is important for infant formula development and managing allergies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how dairy processing affects the resistance of casein (CN) to digestion in infants.
- To identify specific casein fractions and modifications that influence digestive resistance.
Main Methods:
- Manufacturing diverse dairy matrices from raw milk in a pilot plant.
- Subjecting matrices to in vitro digestion using an infant gut model.
- Identifying digestion products via mass spectrometry (MS) and immunochemical techniques.
Main Results:
- Caseins (CNs), especially kappa- and alpha-s2-CN, demonstrated significant resistance to digestion.
- Resistant fragments were identified as hydrophobic at pH 3.0 and/or possessing post-translational modifications (phosphorylation, glycosylation).
- Milk processing, particularly heat treatment, altered peptide patterns and increased the number of peptides in digested samples.
Conclusions:
- Milk processing methods can modify casein (CN) resistance to infant digestion.
- Heat treatment appears to increase the number of digested casein peptides.
- These findings suggest that milk processing influences the allergenic potential of casein.
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