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New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion

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A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 42696

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Prof. Dr. Didier Dupont

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Guest Editor

INRA, Agrocampus Ouest, STLO, F-35000 Rennes, France
Interests: Food digestion, dairy, infant, elderly; Dairy Science; Food & Nutrition; Proteins; Food Chemistry; Food Processing; Food Processing and Engineering; ELISA; Antibodies; Food Science and Technology; Proteomics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the dramatic increase of diet-related pathologies that has occurred over the last years, there is a need for strengthening our knowledge of the effects of food on human health. One way to reach this objective is to get a better understanding of the mechanisms of food disintegration in the gastrointestinal tract during digestion, identify the nutrients and bioactives released in the gut lumen, and follow their absorption through the epithelial barrier in order to determine their bioavailability and potential effects on human health.

For this Special Issue, we invite original manuscripts and reviews that describe innovative work on the fate of foods and all their macro- and micronutrients in the gastrointestinal tract. In vitro, in vivo (on animals and/or humans) and in silico strategies for investigating food digestion are welcome. Manuscripts describing the effects of food structure and food processing on the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of nutrients and bioactives are of special interest. The relationship between food or diet and the intestinal microbiota is also a topic of interest, as well as the possible connections between allergenicity and digestibility. Manuscripts describing the effects of food oral processing on food digestion are also welcome. Experiments performed on healthy adults or mimicking a healthy adult gastrointestinal tract are expected, as well as those on specific populations such as infants, elderly, athletes, or people suffering from gastrointestinal pathologies.

Prof. Dr. Didier Dupont
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Food digestion
Food structure
Bioavailability
Processing
Oral Processing
Microbiota

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1635 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Protein Profile and Simulated Digestive Behavior of Breast Milk from Overweight and Normal Weight Mothers

by Silvia Sánchez-Hernández, Laëtitia Théron, Pablo Jiménez-Barrios, Manuel Olalla-Herrera, Isidra Recio and Beatriz Miralles

Foods 2021, 10(4), 887; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10040887 - 18 Apr 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3107

Abstract

Human milk proteins have shown to vary in concentration and distribution through lactation. However, while some regulatory components, such as hormones, have shown associations with regard to the mothers’ body mass index, there is limited information on the possible influence of this condition on the whole protein distribution. The objective of this study was to evaluate the protein profile of human milk from normal weight and overweight or obese mothers to identify differences in protein expression in colostrum, transitional and mature milk. The mass spectrometry analysis showed the ability to class with a high degree of confidence the lactation state and the milk profile according to the mother’s condition. Individual milk samples were subjected to a digestion in vitro model that takes into account the specificities of the gastrointestinal conditions of full-term newborn infants. The digestion products were compared with available data from the digestive contents in newborns. The behavior of the most abundant proteins and the overall peptide generation and survival, showed good correspondence with in vivo data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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20 pages, 1886 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In Vitro Assessment of the Impact of Industrial Processes on the Gastrointestinal Digestion of Milk Protein Matrices Using the INFOGEST Protocol

by Nathalie Atallah, Barbara Deracinois, Audrey Boulier, Alain Baniel, Delphine Jouan-Rimbaud Bouveresse, Rozenn Ravallec, Christophe Flahaut and Benoit Cudennec

Foods 2020, 9(11), 1580; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9111580 - 30 Oct 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3905

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine the impact of industrial processes on the digestion of six milk protein matrices using the harmonized INFOGEST in vitro static digestion protocol. First, this method was optimized to simple protein matrices using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to compare the intestinal protein hydrolysis obtained with increasing quantities of pancreatin. Similar results were achieved with the originally required pancreatin amount (trypsin activity of 100 U.mL⁻¹) and with a quantity of pancreatin equivalent to a trypsin activity of 27.3 U.mL⁻¹, which was thus used to perform the in vitro digestion of the milk matrices. Molecular weight profiles, peptide heterogeneity from LC-MS/MS data, calcium, free amino acid, and peptide concentrations were determined in the gastric and intestinal phases to compare the milk protein digests. Results showed that the industrial process affected not only the protein distribution of the matrices but also most likely the protein structures. Indeed, differences arose in terms of peptide populations generated when the caseins were reticulated or when their calcium concentrations were reduced. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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19 pages, 2069 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Statistical Workflow for Screening Protein Extracts Based on Their Nutritional Composition and Digestibility: Application to Elderly

by Angéline Duval, Thierry Sayd, Laurent Aubry, Claude De Oliviera Ferreira, Vincenza Ferraro and Véronique Sante-Lhoutellier

Foods 2020, 9(10), 1499; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101499 - 20 Oct 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2577

Abstract

The objective of the study is to develop a workflow to screen protein extracts and identify their nutritional potential as high quality nutritional culinary aids for recipes for the elderly. Twenty-seven protein extracts of animal, vegetable, and dairy origin were characterized. We studied their fate by monitoring static in vitro digestion, mimicking the physiological digestion conditions of the elderly. At the end of the gastric and intestinal phase, global measurements of digestibility and antioxidant bioactivities were performed. The statistical analysis workflow developed allowed: (i) synthesizing the compositional and nutritional information of each protein extract by creating latent variables, and (ii) comparing them. The links between variables and similarities between protein extracts were visualized using a heat map. A hierarchical cluster analysis allowed reducing the 48 quantitative variables into 15 qualitative latent variables (clusters). The application of the k-means method on each cluster enable to classify the protein extracts by level. This defined level was used as categorical value. Multiple correspondence analysis revealed groups of protein extracts with varied patterns. This workflow allowed the comparison/hierarchization between protein extracts and the creation of a tool to select the most interesting ones on the basis of their nutritional quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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15 pages, 1374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of Peptidases in Intestinal Brush Border Membranes on the Absorption of Oligopeptides from Whey Protein Hydrolysate: An Ex Vivo Study Using an Ussing Chamber

by Luísa Ozorio, Caroline Mellinger-Silva, Lourdes M. C. Cabral, Julien Jardin, Gaelle Boudry and Didier Dupont

Foods 2020, 9(10), 1415; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9101415 - 7 Oct 2020

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 3601

Abstract

For many years, it was believed that only amino acids, dipeptides, and tripeptides could be absorbed and thus reach the bloodstream. Nowadays, the bioavailability of oligopeptides is also considered possible, leading to new research. This pilot study investigates the activity of brush border enzymes on undigested whey protein hydrolysate (WPH) and on simulated intestinal digested (ID) whey hydrolysate and the subsequent absorption of resultant peptides through the proximal jejunum of a 7-week old piglet setup in an Ussing chamber model. Amongst all samples taken, 884 oligopeptides were identified. The brush border peptidase activity was intense in the first 10 min of the experiment, producing several new peptides in the apical compartment. With respect to the ID substrate, 286 peptides were detected in the basolateral compartment after 120 min of enzyme activity, originating from β-lactoglobulin (60%) and β-casein (20%). Nevertheless, only 0.6 to 3.35% of any specific peptide could pass through the epithelial barrier and thus reach the basolateral compartment. This study demonstrates transepithelial jejunum absorption of whey oligopeptides in an ex vivo model. It also confirmed the proteolytic activity of brush border enzymes on these oligopeptides, giving birth to a myriad of new bioactive peptides available for absorption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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12 pages, 1496 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ancestral Wheat Types Release Fewer Celiac Disease Related T Cell Epitopes than Common Wheat upon Ex Vivo Human Gastrointestinal Digestion

by Tora Asledottir, Rashida Rehman, Gianfranco Mamone, Gianluca Picariello, Tove Gulbrandsen Devold, Gerd Elisabeth Vegarud, Arne Røseth, Tor Erling Lea, Trond S. Halstensen, Pasquale Ferranti and Anne Kjersti Uhlen

Foods 2020, 9(9), 1173; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9091173 - 25 Aug 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3604

Abstract

Celiac disease (CeD) is an autoimmune enteropathy triggered by immunogenic gluten peptides released during the gastrointestinal digestion of wheat. Our aim was to identify T cell epitope-containing peptides after ex vivo digestion of ancestral (einkorn, spelt and emmer) and common (hexaploid) wheat (Fram, Bastian, Børsum and Mirakel) using human gastrointestinal juices. Wheat porridge was digested using a static ex vivo model. Peptides released after 240 min of digestion were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI MS/MS). Ex vivo digestion released fewer T cell epitope-containing peptides from the ancestral wheat varieties (einkorn (n = 38), spelt (n = 45) and emmer (n = 68)) compared to the common wheat varieties (Fram (n = 72), Børsum (n = 99), Bastian (n = 155) and Mirakel (n = 144)). Neither the immunodominant 33mer and 25mer α-gliadin peptides, nor the 26mer γ-gliadin peptide, were found in any of the digested wheat types. In conclusion, human digestive juice was able to digest the 33mer and 25mer α-gliadin, and the 26mer γ-gliadin derived peptides, while their fragments still contained naive T cell reactive epitopes. Although ancestral wheat released fewer immunogenic peptides after human digestion ex vivo, they are still highly toxic to celiac patients. More general use of these ancient wheat variants may, nevertheless, reduce CeD incidence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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22 pages, 2839 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simulation of Human Small Intestinal Digestion of Starch Using an In Vitro System Based on a Dialysis Membrane Process

by Carol González, Daniela González, Rommy N. Zúñiga, Humberto Estay and Elizabeth Troncoso

Foods 2020, 9(7), 913; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9070913 - 10 Jul 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4907

Abstract

This work deepens our understanding of starch digestion and the consequent absorption of hydrolytic products generated in the human small intestine. Gelatinized starch dispersions were digested with α-amylase in an in vitro intestinal digestion system (i-IDS) based on a dialysis membrane process. This study innovates with respect to the existing literature, because it considers the impact of simultaneous digestion and absorption processes occurring during the intestinal digestion of starchy foods and adopts phenomenological models that deal in a more realistic manner with the behavior found in the small intestine. Operating the i-IDS at different flow/dialysate flow ratios resulted in distinct generation and transfer curves of reducing sugars mass. This indicates that the operating conditions affected the mass transfer by diffusion and convection. However, the transfer process was also affected by membrane fouling, a dynamic phenomenon that occurred in the i-IDS. The experimental results were extrapolated to the human small intestine, where the times reached to transfer the hydrolytic products ranged between 30 and 64 min, according to the flow ratio used. We consider that the i-IDS is a versatile system that can be used for assessing and/or comparing digestion and absorption behaviors of different starch-based food matrices as found in the human small intestine, but the formation and interpretation of membrane fouling requires further studies for a better understanding at physiological level. In addition, further studies with the i-IDS are required if food matrices based on fat, proteins or more complex carbohydrates are of interest for testing. Moreover, a next improvement step of the i-IDS must include the simulation of some physiological events (e.g., electrolytes addition, enzyme activities, bile, dilution and pH) occurring in the human small intestine, in order to improve the comparison with in vivo data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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15 pages, 1440 KiB

Open AccessArticle

In Vitro Modulation of Gut Microbiota and Metabolism by Cooked Cowpea and Black Bean

by Catarina Teixeira-Guedes, Tereza Sánchez-Moya, Cristina Pereira-Wilson, Gaspar Ros-Berruezo and Rubén López-Nicolás

Foods 2020, 9(7), 861; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9070861 - 1 Jul 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2992

Abstract

Legumes are a rich source of a wide range of compounds that may represent an important tool to overcome gut dysbiosis. In this work, the prebiotic potential of two cooked legumes (cowpea and black bean) was investigated in comparison with potato:beef mixture, as substrates in batch faecal culture fermentation. Prior to the fermentation, all the samples were in vitro digested, passing through three phases, namely mouth, gastric and small intestine simulation, and then in vitro fermented for 6, 24 and 48 h. The shift of pH, production of gas and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and changes in gut microbiota were evaluated along the fermentation time. The pH decreased significantly over time in all media with fermentable sources when compared with the negative control. Gas production was higher in the media containing fermentable source than in the negative control and decreased with fermentation time. The concentration of SCFAs increased over time and it was significantly higher for both legumes than in inulin (positive control) and potato:beef meal. Acetate was the major SCFAs produced during fermentation, particularly in media containing legumes. Both legumes presented a strong prebiotic effect on gut microbiota, showing a significant increase in Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. These results suggest that consumption of cooked cowpea and black bean, used alone or as an ingredient of novel functional foods, may contribute to improving intestinal health and therefore human health promotion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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7 pages, 1101 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Immunohistochemical Study of Glucose Transporter GLUT-5 in Duodenal Epithelium in Norm and in T-2 Mycotoxicosis

by Piret Hussar, Florina Popovska-Percinic, Katerina Blagoevska, Tõnu Järveots and Ilmārs Dūrītis

Foods 2020, 9(7), 849; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9070849 - 29 Jun 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3239

Abstract

Although patterns of glucose transporter expression and notes about diseases leading to adaptive changes in intestinal fructose transport have been well-characterized, the connection between infection and fructose transportation has been lightly investigated. Up to now only few studies on GLUT-5 expression and function under pathological conditions in bird intestines have been carried out. The aim of our current research was to immunolocalize GLUT-5 in chicken duodenal epithelium in norm and during T-2 mycotoxicosis. Material from chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) duodenum was collected from twelve seven-day-old female broilers, divided into control group and broilers with T-2 mycotoxicosis. The material was fixed with 10% formalin and thereafter embedded into paraffin; slices 7 μm in thickness were cut, followed by immunohistochemical staining, according to the manufacturers guidelines (IHC kit, Abcam, UK) using polyclonal primary antibody Rabbit anti-GLUT-5. Our study revealed the strong expression of GLUT-5 in the apical parts of the duodenal epithelial cells in the control group chickens and weak staining for GLUT-5 in the intestinal epithelium in the T-2 mycotoxicosis group. Our results confirmed decreased the expression of GLUT-5 in the duodenal epithelium during T-2 mycotoxicosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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19 pages, 1705 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Analysis of Antibody Survival across the Infant Digestive Tract Using Mass Spectrometry with Parallel Reaction Monitoring

by Bum Jin Kim, Jiraporn Lueangsakulthai, Baidya Nath P. Sah, Brian Scottoline and David C. Dallas

Foods 2020, 9(6), 759; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9060759 - 9 Jun 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2727

Abstract

Orally delivered antibodies may be useful for the prevention of enteric pathogen infection, but to be effective they need to survive intact across digestion through the gastrointestinal tract. As a test case, we fed a recombinant human antibody, palivizumab, spiked into human milk to four infants and collected gastric, intestinal and stool samples. We identified a tryptic peptide from palivizumab (LLIYDTSK) that differs from all endogenous human antibodies and used this for quantitation of the intact palivizumab. To account for dilution by digestive fluids, we co-fed a non-digestible, non-absorbable molecule-polyethylene glycol 28-quantified it in each sample and used this value to normalize the observed palivizumab concentration. The palivizumab peptide, a stable isotope-labeled synthetic peptide and polyethylene glycol 28 were quantified via a highly sensitive and selective parallel-reaction monitoring approach using nano-liquid chromatography/Orbitrap mass spectrometry. On average, the survival of intact palivizumab from the feed to the stomach, upper small intestine and stool were 88.4%, 30.0% and 5.2%, respectively. This approach allowed clear determination of the extent to which palivizumab was degraded within the infant digestive tract. This method can be applied with some modifications to study the digestion of any protein. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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20 pages, 3298 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lemon Juice, Sesame Paste, and Autoclaving Influence Iron Bioavailability of Hummus: Assessment by an In Vitro Digestion/Caco-2 Cell Model

by Nour Doumani, Isabelle Severin, Laurence Dahbi, Elias Bou-Maroun, Maya Tueni, Nicolas Sok, Marie-Christine Chagnon, Jacqueline Maalouly and Philippe Cayot

Foods 2020, 9(4), 474; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9040474 - 10 Apr 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5969

Abstract

Hummus, an iron-containing plant-based dish mainly made from chickpea purée, tahini, lemon juice and garlic, could be a valuable source of iron when bioavailable. Since the processing and formulation of food influence iron bioavailability, the present study investigated for the first time, their effects on hummus. Firstly, iron bioaccessibility was assessed on eight samples (prepared according to the screening Hadamard matrix) by in vitro digestion preceding iron dialysis. Then, iron bioavailability of four selected samples was estimated by the in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell model. Total and dialyzable iron were determined by the atomic absorption spectrometry and ferritin formation was determined using an ELISA kit. Only autoclaving, among other processes, had a significant effect on iron bioaccessibility (+9.5, p < 0.05). Lemon juice had the highest positive effect (+15.9, p < 0.05). Consequently, the effect of its acidic components were investigated based on a full factorial 2³ experimental design; no significant difference was detected. Garlic’s effect was not significant, but tahini’s effect was negative (−8.9, p < 0.05). Despite the latter, hummus had a higher iron bioavailability than only cooked chickpeas (30.4 and 7.23 ng ferritin/mg protein, respectively). In conclusion, hummus may be a promising source of iron; further in vivo studies are needed for confirmation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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18 pages, 3679 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Are Faba Bean and Pea Proteins Potential Whey Protein Substitutes in Infant Formulas? An In Vitro Dynamic Digestion Approach

by Linda Le Roux, Olivia Ménard, Raphaël Chacon, Didier Dupont, Romain Jeantet, Amélie Deglaire and Françoise Nau

Foods 2020, 9(3), 362; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9030362 - 20 Mar 2020

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 5345

Abstract

Infant formulas (IFs) are used as substitutes for human milk and are mostly based on cow milk proteins. For sustainability reasons, animal protein alternatives in food are increasingly being considered, as plant proteins offer interesting nutritional and functional benefits for the development of innovative IFs. This study aimed to assess how a partial substitution (50%) of dairy proteins with faba bean and pea proteins influenced the digestibility of IFs under simulated dynamic in vitro digestion, which were set up to mimic infant digestion. Pea- and faba bean-based IFs (PIF and FIF, respectively) have led to a faster aggregation than the reference milk-based IF (RIF) in the gastric compartment; that did not affect the digesta microstructure at the end of digestion. The extent of proteolysis was estimated via the hydrolysis degree, which was the highest for FIF (73%) and the lowest for RIF (50%). Finally, it was apparent that in vitro protein digestibility and protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS)-like scores were similar for RIF and FIF (90% digestibility; 75% PDCAAS), but lower for PIF (75%; 67%). Therefore, this study confirms that faba bean proteins could be a good candidate for partial substitution of whey proteins in IFs from a nutritional point of view, provided that these in vitro results are confirmed in vivo. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Challenges and Opportunities of Food Digestion)

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