FOODPRO FORHEALTH

Investigating the role of food structure and processing in lipid digestion for production of healthier food

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'FoodPro ForHealth will develop rational strategies to formulate and process foods to control lipid digestion, and combines the Fellow’s food science skills with expertise and techniques at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) in the colloids, interfacial, model gut and health areas. Obesity is a major health problem in Europe/developed countries and a risk factor for chronic diseases (diabetes and cardiovascular disease, CVD) leading to anti-obesity campaigns promoting healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. Lipids are the most energy dense of macronutrients and excess consumption has been linked to obesity. Most people find it difficult to change their diets to eat healthily. Changes in food manufacturing are needed to develop healthier products and ingredients. Lipids are water insoluble and their breakdown in the digestive tract occurs at the fat/water interface so the composition at the fat interface can affect lipid digestion in vitro. If lipid digestion is controlled, energy release during digestion is prolonged and hyperlipidaemia, a CVD risk factor, reduced. Slowly-digested lipids can also increase satiety, control energy intake and help manage weight loss. State-of-the-art physicochemical techniques will be used to study how common food structures in emulsified foods influence the breakdown/digestion of lipids in vitro. The interaction of these structures with digestive enzymes, surfactants and lipids will be studied in the gastric and duodenal environment. Better understanding the factors affecting the nature/extent of lipid breakdown in model systems and real food models will allow science-based strategies to modify food products or develop new products to optimise fat digestion. The project will assist the Fellow to develop new research projects on her return to Spain and to transfer knowledge to industry. Complementary skills (e.g communication, resource management, IP and awareness of the needs of industry and society) will be transferred to the Fellow'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Obesity has become a major health issue, and the EU has prioritised the design of healthier foods to control the phenomenon.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Obesity is associated with chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disorders with treatment taking up around 5 % of the EU's healthcare budget. Controlling lipid digestion could ensure prolonged energy release. This in turn could reduce high fat intake and increase satiety to promote weight loss.

The EU-funded FOODPRO FORHEALTH (Investigating the role of food structure and processing in lipid digestion for production of healthier food) project worked on elucidating the role of food structure on fat digestion. Researchers employed physicochemical approaches to determine how different food structures such as emulsions interact with digestive enzymes, surfactants and fats in a simulated gut environment. The simulated gut environment included both the stomach and the small intestine.

Bile salts (BSs) are biosurfactants that help breakdown fats through adsorption and interfacial disruption. Limiting BS access to fats could slow down digestion. To understand how BS interacts with emulsifiers and stabilisers found in processed foods, researchers used several colloidal and interfacial techniques such as particle electrophoresis analysis and tensiometry.

For testing, researchers investigated the following food emulsifiers: protein-based ingredients such as whey protein isolate (WPI), polysaccharide-protein complexes (sugar beet pectin (SBP)), and polysaccharide based emulsifiers (hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)).

Interestingly, stabilising emulsified fats with SBP or HPMC did not significantly affect their digestion. This indicates that BSs are effective at fat breakdown and are critical for fat digestion in the small intestine.

It was actually the binding of BSs by celluloses that significantly affected fat breakdown in the food models. Also, heat treatment successfully slowed down the breakdown of WPI.

Last but not least, FOODPRO FORHEALTH tested the effect of oats based ingredients on fat digestion. Invaluable insight was obtained on adsorption behaviour and interfacial properties of emulsions. These results also highlighted gaps in knowledge on fat digestion and the need for further studies.

Project outcomes can be used to develop food systems that modulate fat absorption to control dietary intake, increase satiety and enhance metabolic health. Improving fat metabolism and gut health through modification of food products will significantly improve public health and cut down healthcare costs. This should also boost the competitiveness of the European food industry.