Impact of Food Structure on Digestion: The Case of Dairy Products

The work examines six dairy matrices—raw and heat-treated milk, stirred and non-stirred acid gels, and rennet gels from raw or heated milk—manufactured from ultra-low-heat skim milk powder. Adult mini-pigs fitted with duodenal and jejunal cannulas were fed these matrices to compare protein digestion kinetics and plasma amino acid release. Results show that liquid matrices rapidly exit the stomach, triggering a sharp early rise in essential amino acids, notably leucine. This early leucine influx may help restore muscle protein synthesis in elderly individuals suffering from sarcopenia by providing a timely amino acid supply.