Protein Digestion in the Context of Personalized Nutrition: Analytical Evaluations of the Effects of Age, Sex, and Food Structure on the Digestibility of Animal- and Plant-Based Proteins
Abstract: ** Lecture will be given in English**
In face of a fourth food revolution in human evolution, protein quality is increasingly recognized as a determinant towards possible personalized nutritional solutions. This research investigated how age, sex, and food matrix characteristics shape protein digestibility and amino acid bioaccessibility, while developing evidence-based functional foods tailored to vulnerable populations. First, a plant-based functional co-extruded breakfast cereal designed for older adults (12.75% protein, ~17% fiber) was developed based on flour blends (teff, chickpea, rice, and maize) and a tahini-based filling enriched with bioactive compounds. The formulation exhibited good palatability in a tasting panel and achieved >80% protein in vitro digestibility under a senior-adapted semi-dynamic in vitro digestion model. Next, the differential digestibility of milk and an oat-based alternative were studied under male and female digestive conditions. Proteomic analyses of digesta revealed differential trends in the bioaccessibility of bioactive peptides and amino acids.
Last, six protein sources from animal (milk, egg, collagen) and plant (soy, pea, oat) origins were evaluated across male, female, and elderly digestion models. This enabled coupling in vitro digestion models with LC-MS/MS free amino acid profiling, OPA spectrophotometry, pH-stat and pH-drop kinetics, towards integrative and comparative multivariate PCA analysis of protein quality metrics. Collectively, this work challenges the traditional “one-size-fits-all” paradigm of protein digestion research and reframes it into a triage of host physiology, food structure, and protein quality. Thus, the work offers both new tools for food digestion research as well as design principles for the development of next-generation functional foods tailored to specific demographic groups.
