Speakers : Prof Marc Hendrickx and Assistant Prof Tara Grauwet, KU Leuven Laboratory of Food Technology, will present a seminar entitled: The Role of Food Structure in Digestion and Bio-accessibility of Nutrients in Plant Based Foods

Host:     Myriam Grundy

Abstract:
In the first part of the presentation, an introduction into the research approach and activities of the KU Leuven Laboratory of Food Technology will be given. The overall theme of our research activities is on ‘Understanding and quantifying process-structure-function relations of food systems during processing, preservation and storage’. The research theme is illustrated with specific examples on translating fruit, vegetable and legume raw materials into food systems and/or food ingredients.

The second part of the presentation will be specifically on process-structure-function relations thereby focusing on how food structure, whether or not induced by processing, affects the digestion and/or bio-accessibility of (micro)nutrients in plant based food systems. In order to obtain fundamental understanding on the influence of macro-, micro- and molecular structural parameters on digestion kinetics, we study digestion using standardized in vitro conditions. Examples will include “lipid digestion kinetics of emulsified lipids and bio-accessibility of lipophilic micronutrients as influenced by oil-in-water emulsion characteristics”, “starch digestion kinetics of distinct process-induced (micro-)structures of common beans”. As much as possible, data obtained are quantitatively analyzed by modelling approaches such as single response kinetic models. However, with the aim of developing mechanism based in silico models for prediction of digestion based on food design, multi response modelling should be considered as well.

All staff from organisations on the Norwich Research Park are welcome to attend.