Evaluation of the performance of the human gastric simulator using durum wheat-based foods of contrasting food structure.

The selection of gastric digestion parameters in food digestion studies using models is critical to properly represent structural changes in the stomach. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of digestion in the human gastric simulator (HGS) using generalized gastric digestion parameters (secretion rate of 4.1 mL min, gastric emptying rate of 5.68 g min) that were derived from a previous study using six starch-rich foods. Two of the six foods used in the study (cooked durum wheat porridge/semolina and pasta) were digested in the HGS for up to 240 min, then the properties of the emptied and remaining digesta were measured. The properties of the remaining digesta were compared to those measured (growing pig stomach). The trends in the gastric breakdown rate and mechanisms, dry matter emptying kinetics, and starch hydrolysis of pasta and semolina were similar to those of . Gastric breakdown and dilution kinetics and were well-related but did not have a 1 : 1 correlation, whereas gastric acidification kinetics in the HGS deviated from that observed . The results suggest that generalized digestion parameters could be used to predict the effect of food structure on gastric breakdown and emptying, but care should be taken in interpretation of results, as the gastric acidification process was different from what was observed . This information will help refine digestion model parameters to provide more physiologically-relevant data in future studies.