Gastric Digestion of Milk Proteins in Adult and Elderly: Effect of High-Pressure Processing

Abstract

Reduced physiological capability of the human gastrointestinal tract with increasing age has recently attracted considerable attention to the potential of novel technologies to modify food digestion. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate gastric digestion of milk proteins after application of high-pressure processing (HPP) at 400 MPa 15 min, 600 MPa 5 min and 600 MPa 15 min using two static in vitro models of adults (INFOGEST) and the elderly in comparison to a fresh untreated raw milk. Peptides distribution classified based on the number of amino acids (AA) (<10, 11–15, 16–20, 21–30, >30 AA) were investigated after 0, 5, 10 and 30 min of digestion using LC–MS and multivariate data analysis. Our results show significantly less efficient protein digestion of all investigated milks in the elderly model indicated by higher percentages of longer peptides during digestion, except for the HPP milk 400 MPa 15 min, which indicated an improved and comparable digestion in the elderly as in the adult model. Furthermore, increasing the pressurization time at 600 MPa did not have a significant effect on the peptides profile during the digestion. More efficient digestion of whey proteins in HPP milks, with the majority of peptides in the 16–20 AA range, compared to fresh milk was also noticed. According to the findings of this study, HPP at 400 MPa 15 min showed the most efficient digestion of major milk proteins and thus may be considered a suitable process to improve bioaccessibility of milk proteins, especially in products intended for the elderly.