Methods
in vitro mechanical gastric system (IMGS) or in vitro gastric digestion in a stirred beaker (SBg). After gastric digestion, the samples were subjected to in vitro intestinal digestion in a stirred beaker (SBi). Hardness, cohesiveness, and chewiness were significantly higher in gels at pH 7.0. The degree of proteolysis was higher in samples digested by IMGS-SBi (7-21%) than SBg-SBi (3-5%), regardless of the gel's pH. For SBg-SBi, the degree of proteolysis was not affected by pH, but when operating the IMGS, higher hydrolysis values were obtained for gels at pH 7.0 (15-21%) than pH 4.0 (7-13%). Additionally, the percentage of free fatty acids (%FFA) released was reduced by 47.9% in samples digested in the IMGS-SBi. For the methodology SBg-SBi, the %FFA was not affected by the pH, but in the IMGS, higher values were obtained for gels at pH 4.0 (28-30%) than pH 7.0 (15-19%). Our findings demonstrate the importance of choosing representative methods to simulate food digestion in the human gastrointestinal tract and their subsequent impact on nutrient bioaccessibility.