Abstract The interest in designing novel foods whose digestibility can be controlled based on life stage and health conditions continues to grow. Physical digestion is important for solid foods as their breakdown and resulting size reduction can promote enzymatic reactions. Our human gastric digestion simulator (GDS) enables the simulation and direct observation of food particle disintegration induced by simulated antrum contraction waves. The objectives of this study were to verify the disintegration performance of the GDS compared with previously reported in vivo data and evaluate the effects of the mechanical properties of hydrogel particles on their in vitro gastric disintegration behavior. Agar beads with four fracture forces were prepared and mixed with meal containing locust bean gum to adjust viscosity same as their in vivo data. The half residence time of intact beads was longer for hard agar beads than for soft agar beads, and a similar disintegration trend to in vivo data was obtained. Moreover, as solid food models, 5-mm hydrogel cubes with different fracture stresses and fracture strains were prepared by varying the agar and native type gellan gum concentrations. The hydrogel cubes disintegrated because of fracture and abrasion during in vitro gastric digestion in the presence of simulated antrum contraction waves. The degree of hydrogel cube disintegration was affected by their fracture strain rather than their fracture stress and was suppressed when their fracture strain was greater than 30%. Our findings may provide a better understanding of the gastric digestion behavior of solid foods with different mechanical properties.

中文翻译：

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使用胃消化模拟器研究水凝胶颗粒力学性能对其崩解行为的影响

摘要 对设计可根据生命阶段和健康状况控制消化率的新型食品的兴趣不断增长。物理消化对于固体食物很重要，因为它们的分解和由此产生的尺寸减小会促进酶促反应。我们的人类胃消化模拟器 (GDS) 能够模拟和直接观察由模拟胃窦收缩波引起的食物颗粒分解。本研究的目的是验证 GDS 与先前报道的体内数据相比的崩解性能，并评估水凝胶颗粒的机械性能对其体外胃崩解行为的影响。制备具有四种断裂力的琼脂珠并与含有刺槐豆胶的膳食混合以调节与其体内数据相同的粘度。与软琼脂珠相比，硬琼脂珠的完整珠的半滞留时间更长，并且获得了与体内数据相似的崩解趋势。此外，作为固体食物模型，通过改变琼脂和天然型结冷胶浓度制备了具有不同断裂应力和断裂应变的 5 毫米水凝胶立方体。在模拟胃窦收缩波的情况下，在体外胃消化过程中，水凝胶立方体由于断裂和磨损而分解。水凝胶立方体的崩解程度受其断裂应变而非断裂应力的影响，当其断裂应变大于 30% 时受到抑制。我们的研究结果可以更好地了解具有不同机械特性的固体食物的胃消化行为。