INFOGEST static in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal food digestion

Brodkorb A., Egger L., Alminger M., Alvito P., Assunção R., Balance S., Bohn T., Bourlieu-Lacanal C., Boutrou R., Carrière F., Clemente A., Corredic M., Dupont D., DuFour C., Edwards C. H., Golding M., Karakaya S., Kirkhus B., Lesmes U., Macierzanka A., Mackie A., Martins C., Marze A., McClements D., Menard O., Minekus M., Portmann R., Santos C., Souchon I., Singh P., Vegarud G., Wickham M., Weitschies W., Recio I.. (2019)

Nature Protocols

Simulating the human gastro-intestinal digestion of food in the laboratory has been an active field of research in food and nutritional sciences over the last decade as human intervention trials are often difficult to undertake, expensive or not justifiable on ethical grounds. As a result, a large number of in vitro digestion models have been used, varying in experimental conditions and complexity, which impedes the meaningful comparison of results. The recommended standardised protocol is based on an international consensus developed by the COST INFOGEST network. It is a static digestion method, i.e. constant ratios of meal to digestive fluids and constant pH for each step of digestion. Food samples (meal) are subjected to sequential oral, gastric and intestinal digestion while parameters such as electrolytes, enzymes, bile, dilution, pH and time of digestion are based on available physiologically data. This amended and improved INFOGEST 2.0 digestion method can be used to assess the gastro-intestinal breakdown of complex food or pure food components, by analysing the produced basic chemical building blocks of macronutrients (e.g. peptides/amino acids, fatty acids, mono/di-saccharides), and evaluate the release of micronutrients from the food matrix. They can also be used as a pre-screening for in vivo trials and as a pre-treatment for bioavailability assays and simulated colonic fermentation, etc.
 

Nature Protocols

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