Understanding digestion kinetics for improved functionality

Professor Alan Mackie, Chair in Colloid Chemistry and Head of School at the School of Food Science and Nutrition of the University of Leeds (UK), will share some of his latest research findings. Using simple dairy systems in combination with a semi-dynamic simulation of the upper GI tract and MRI data, results showed that we could successfully simulate the behaviour in the GI tract but also that the initial structure of a food is not always predictive of GI behaviour.

This, and related examples will be used to show how simple factors can have significant impacts on nutrient and bioactive concentrations available for absorption and thus have a strong impact of the bioactivity. The examples will also show that a range of simulations of digestion can be used to give physiologically relevant data on likely outcomes in humans.