Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Jun;5(6):1113-24.
doi: 10.1039/c3fo60702j. Epub 2014 May 7.

A standardised static in vitro digestion method suitable for food - an international consensus

M Minekus  1 , M Alminger, P Alvito, S Ballance, T Bohn, C Bourlieu, F Carrière, R Boutrou, M Corredig, D Dupont, C Dufour, L Egger, M Golding, S Karakaya, B Kirkhus, S Le Feunteun, U Lesmes, A Macierzanka, A Mackie, S Marze, D J McClements, O Ménard, I Recio, C N Santos, R P Singh, G E Vegarud, M S J Wickham, W Weitschies, A Brodkorb
Affiliations

A standardised static in vitro digestion method suitable for food - an international consensus

M Minekus et al. Food Funct. 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Simulated gastro-intestinal digestion is widely employed in many fields of food and nutritional sciences, as conducting human trials are often costly, resource intensive, and ethically disputable. As a consequence, in vitro alternatives that determine endpoints such as the bioaccessibility of nutrients and non-nutrients or the digestibility of macronutrients (e.g. lipids, proteins and carbohydrates) are used for screening and building new hypotheses. Various digestion models have been proposed, often impeding the possibility to compare results across research teams. For example, a large variety of enzymes from different sources such as of porcine, rabbit or human origin have been used, differing in their activity and characterization. Differences in pH, mineral type, ionic strength and digestion time, which alter enzyme activity and other phenomena, may also considerably alter results. Other parameters such as the presence of phospholipids, individual enzymes such as gastric lipase and digestive emulsifiers vs. their mixtures (e.g. pancreatin and bile salts), and the ratio of food bolus to digestive fluids, have also been discussed at length. In the present consensus paper, within the COST Infogest network, we propose a general standardised and practical static digestion method based on physiologically relevant conditions that can be applied for various endpoints, which may be amended to accommodate further specific requirements. A frameset of parameters including the oral, gastric and small intestinal digestion are outlined and their relevance discussed in relation to available in vivo data and enzymes. This consensus paper will give a detailed protocol and a line-by-line, guidance, recommendations and justifications but also limitation of the proposed model. This harmonised static, in vitro digestion method for food should aid the production of more comparable data in the future.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

  • InfoGest Consensus Method.
    Mackie A, Rigby N. Mackie A, et al. In: Verhoeckx K, Cotter P, López-Expósito I, Kleiveland C, Lea T, Mackie A, Requena T, Swiatecka D, Wichers H, editors. The Impact of Food Bioactives on Health: in vitro and ex vivo models [Internet]. Cham (CH): Springer; 2015. Chapter 2. In: Verhoeckx K, Cotter P, López-Expósito I, Kleiveland C, Lea T, Mackie A, Requena T, Swiatecka D, Wichers H, editors. The Impact of Food Bioactives on Health: in vitro and ex vivo models [Internet]. Cham (CH): Springer; 2015. Chapter 2. PMID: 29787068 Free Books & Documents. Review.
  • INFOGEST static in vitro simulation of gastrointestinal food digestion.
    Brodkorb A, Egger L, Alminger M, Alvito P, Assunção R, Ballance S, Bohn T, Bourlieu-Lacanal C, Boutrou R, Carrière F, Clemente A, Corredig M, Dupont D, Dufour C, Edwards C, Golding M, Karakaya S, Kirkhus B, Le Feunteun S, Lesmes U, Macierzanka A, Mackie AR, Martins C, Marze S, McClements DJ, Ménard O, Minekus M, Portmann R, Santos CN, Souchon I, Singh RP, Vegarud GE, Wickham MSJ, Weitschies W, Recio I. Brodkorb A, et al. Nat Protoc. 2019 Apr;14(4):991-1014. doi: 10.1038/s41596-018-0119-1. Epub 2019 Mar 18. Nat Protoc. 2019. PMID: 30886367
  • A standardised semi-dynamic in vitro digestion method suitable for food - an international consensus.
    Mulet-Cabero AI , Egger L , Portmann R , Ménard O , Marze S , Minekus M , Le Feunteun S , Sarkar A , Grundy MM , Carrière F , Golding M , Dupont D , Recio I , Brodkorb A , Mackie A . Mulet-Cabero AI , et al. Food Funct. 2020 Feb 26;11(2):1702-1720. doi: 10.1039/c9fo01293a. Food Funct. 2020. PMID: 32039430
  • Static in vitro digestion model adapted to the general older adult population: an INFOGEST international consensus.
    Menard O, Lesmes U, Shani-Levi CS, Araiza Calahorra A, Lavoisier A, Morzel M, Rieder A, Feron G, Nebbia S, Mashiah L, Andres A, Bornhorst G, Carrière F, Egger L, Gwala S, Heredia A, Kirkhus B, Macierzanka A, Portman R, Recio I, Santé-Lhoutellier V, Tournier C, Sarkar A, Brodkorb A, Mackie A, Dupont D. Menard O, et al. Food Funct. 2023 May 22;14(10):4569-4582. doi: 10.1039/d3fo00535f. Food Funct. 2023. PMID: 37099034
  • Correlation between in vitro and in vivo data on food digestion. What can we predict with static in vitro digestion models?
    Bohn T, Carriere F, Day L, Deglaire A, Egger L, Freitas D, Golding M, Le Feunteun S, Macierzanka A, Menard O, Miralles B, Moscovici A, Portmann R, Recio I, Rémond D, Santé-Lhoutelier V, Wooster TJ, Lesmes U, Mackie AR, Dupont D. Bohn T, et al. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2018;58(13):2239-2261. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2017.1315362. Epub 2017 Sep 12. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2018. PMID: 28613945 Review.
See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types