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In vitro dynamic model simulating the digestive tract of 6-month-old infants
Francesca Passannanti1, Federica Nigro2, Marianna Gallo1
1DICMAPI, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
Insights
A new infant digestion model, M.I.D.A., was developed to assess starch digestibility in infant foods. The premium product showed better starch hydrolysis, indicating improved digestibility in this in vitro infant digestion model.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology
- Food Science
- Biotechnology
Background:
- In vitro assays are crucial for studying infant digestion due to ethical and practical limitations of in vivo studies.
- Understanding infant digestion aids in preventing food-related diseases and developing beneficial infant formulas.
- Dynamic in vitro models simulating infant digestion are valuable tools.
Purpose of the Study:
- To simulate infant digestion using a dynamic model of the infant gastrointestinal tract.
- To evaluate the digestibility of starch-based infant foods using this model.
- To compare the digestibility of different starch-based products.
Main Methods:
- Development of the Model of an Infant Digestive Apparatus (M.I.D.A.), a dynamic in vitro system.
- Assessment of oral, gastric, and intestinal digestibility of two starch-based products.
- Analysis of starch concentration, D-glucose release, and starch hydrolysis percentage.
Main Results:
- The M.I.D.A. system successfully simulated starch digestion in the oral and intestinal phases.
- Different D-glucose release was observed between classical and HTST sterilization methods for rice starch.
- The premium rice cream product exhibited significantly higher starch hydrolysis compared to the basic product.
Conclusions:
- The M.I.D.A. system effectively digests simple starches and complex foods within simulated digestive compartments.
- The study demonstrated superior digestibility of the premium product, suggesting benefits for infant nutrition.
- This in vitro model provides a valuable platform for assessing infant food digestibility.
Background:
In vivo assays cannot always be conducted because of ethical reasons, technical constraints or costs, but a better understanding of the digestive process, especially in infants, could be of great help in preventing food-related pathologies and in developing new formulas with health benefits. In this context, in vitro dynamic systems to simulate human digestion and, in particular, infant digestion could become increasingly valuable.
Objective:
To simulate the digestive process through the use of a dynamic model of the infant gastroenteric apparatus to study the digestibility of starch-based infant foods.
Design:
Using M.I.D.A (Model of an Infant Digestive Apparatus), the oral, gastric and intestinal digestibility of two starch-based products were measured: 1) rice starch mixed with distilled water and treated using two different sterilization methods (the classical method with a holding temperature of 121°C for 37 min and the HTST method with a holding temperature of 137°C for 70 sec) and 2) a rice cream with (premium product) or without (basic product) an aliquot of rice flour fermented by Lactobacillus paracasei CBA L74. After the digestion the foods were analyzed for the starch concentration, the amount of D-glucose released and the percentage of hydrolyzed starch.
Results:
An in vitro dynamic system, which was referred to as M.I.D.A., was obtained. Using this system, the starch digestion occurred only during the oral and intestinal phase, as expected. The D-glucose released during the intestinal phase was different between the classical and HTST methods (0.795 grams for the HTST versus 0.512 for the classical product). The same analysis was performed for the basic and premium products. In this case, the premium product had a significant difference in terms of the starch hydrolysis percentage during the entire process.
Conclusions:
The M.I.D.A. system was able to digest simple starches and a more complex food in the correct compartments. In this study, better digestibility of the premium product was revealed.
