The Impact of Food Bio-Actives on Gut Health : In Vitro and Ex Vivo Models

Abstract

This book is the fi nal product of the InfoGest FA1005 COST Action. InfoGest is an international network that aims at “Improving Health Properties of Food by Sharing our Knowledge on the Digestive Process”. The specifi c objectives of the network are to:

– Compare the existing digestion models, harmonise the methodologies and pro- pose guidelines for performing new experiments

– Validate in vitro models towards in vivo data (animal and/or human) – Identify the benefi cial/deleterious components that are released in the gut during food digestion – Demonstrate the effect of these compounds on human health

– Determine the effect of the matrix structure on the bioavailability of food nutri- ents and bioactive molecules

InfoGest is supported for 4 years (June 2011–May 2015) by European COST funds and gathers more than 320 scientists from 34 countries (primarily within Europe but also Canada, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand). Connections

between academic partners and industry are also strengthened through the partici- pation of more than 40 food companies (large groups as well as SMEs). InfoGest

has released several reviews and opinion papers on the topic of food digestion and related topics (e.g. health effects, bioavailability) and has proposed a consensus

in vitro digestion model to the scientifi c community (Minekus et al. 2014).