Nutrition and Food Science Area, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia, Av. Vicent Andrés Estellés s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain.
Food Funct. 2022 Apr 20;13(8):4478-4485. doi: 10.1039/d1fo04375g.
Elderly people suffer from a higher cardiovascular risk. Thus, the fortification of foods with plant sterols (PSs), which have a cholesterol-lowering function, could be of great interest for this target group. To date, no studies have analyzed how the gastrointestinal conditions of the elderly affect PS bioaccessibility. Therefore, this study evaluated the impact of the adaptation of the gastric phase alone and in combination with the intestinal phase on sterol bioaccessibility. For this purpose, the standardized INFOGEST 2.0 method previously adapted for sterol bioaccessibility evaluation in healthy adults was applied to PS-enriched milk-based fruit beverages, examining changes in enzyme activity, incubation time, agitation and pH, based on elderly physiology. The results suggest that the specific gastrointestinal conditions of the elderly could increase absorption of PSs, since their bioaccessibility (%) in a PS-enriched milk-based fruit beverage was significantly increased compared with that in adults (14.95 ± 0.33 . 7.96 ± 0.26), also indicating that these conditions increase the bioaccessibility of the beverage's own cholesterol (61.25 ± 2.91 20.86 ± 2.79). These data support the recommendation of foods of this type for the elderly who can benefit from the increase in bioaccessibility of PSs to have an improved potential cholesterol lowering effect, thus decreasing their risk of cardiovascular disease. However, the performance of subsequent tests to confirm these results is necessary.
老年人患心血管疾病的风险更高。因此，为这一目标群体强化具有降低胆固醇功能的植物甾醇（PSs）的食品可能具有很大的意义。迄今为止，尚无研究分析老年人的胃肠道状况如何影响 PS 的生物利用度。因此，本研究评估了仅适应胃相和与肠相结合适应对甾醇生物利用度的影响。为此，应用先前为健康成年人适应甾醇生物利用度评估而标准化的 INFOGEST 2.0 方法，对富含 PS 的牛奶基水果饮料进行评估，根据老年人的生理学，考察了酶活性、孵育时间、搅拌和 pH 值变化。结果表明，老年人的特定胃肠道条件可能会增加 PS 的吸收，因为与成年人相比，富含 PS 的牛奶基水果饮料中的 PS 生物利用度（%）明显增加（14.95±0.33 比 7.96±0.26），这也表明这些条件增加了饮料自身胆固醇的生物利用度（61.25±2.91 比 20.86±2.79）。这些数据支持为老年人推荐这类食物的建议，因为他们可以从 PS 生物利用度的提高中受益，从而具有更好的潜在降胆固醇效果，降低患心血管疾病的风险。然而，需要进行后续测试来确认这些结果。
