Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of a bread and cheese meal

• Published in: Food research international Vol. 169; p. 112821
• Main Authors: Musse, Maja, Le Feunteun, Steven, Collewet, Guylaine, Ravilly, Mattéi, Quellec, Stéphane, Ossemond, Jordane, Morzel, Martine, Challois, Sylvain, Nau, Françoise, Lucas, Tiphaine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Food and Nutrition; Life Sciences; Digestion gastrique in vitro; Bioaccessibility/digestibility; Magnetic Resonance Study; Nutrient; Cheese; Bioavaibility; Breads
• ISSN: 0963-9969; 1873-7145
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.112821

[Display omitted] •Magnetic Resonance Imaging was found to be a very powerful tool to study in vitro digestion.•Erosion kinetics of large-sized food particles were highlighted by MRI.•Degassing of aerated bread particles was evidenced by decantation under MRI monitoring.•MRI allowed quantitative measurements of lipid release from cheese particles.•Further in vitro studies are needed to get the best of MRI capabilities All MRI results were in excellent agreement with those obtained from chemical analyses. The monitoring of food degradation during gastrointestinal digestion is essential in understanding food structure impacts on the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of nutrients. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has the unique ability to access information on changes in multi-scale structural features of foods in a spatially resolved and non-destructive way. Our objective was to exploit various opportunities offered by MRI for monitoring starch, lipid and protein hydrolysis, as well as food particle breakdown during the semi-dynamic in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of complex foods combined in a meal. The meal consisted of French bread, hard cheese and water (drink), with a realistic distribution of bolus particle sizes. The MRI approach was reinforced by parallel chemical analysis of all macronutrients in the supernatant. By combining different imaging protocols, quantitative MRI provided insights into a number of phenomena at the level of the cheese and bread particles and within the liquid phase that are hard to access through conventional approaches. MRI thus revealed the progressive ingress of fluids into the bread crust and the release of the gas trapped in the crumb, the erosion of cheese particles, the creaming of fat, the disappearance of small food particles and changes in liquid phase composition. Excellent agreement was obtained between the quantitative parameters extracted from the MRI images and the results of the chemical analysis, demonstrating the strong potential of MRI for the monitoring of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. The present study proposes further improvements to fully exploit the capabilities of MRI and constitutes an important step towards the extension of quantitative MRI to in vivo studies.