GLUPOR 12 - 12nd International Meeting of the Portuguese Carbohydrate Chemistry GroupIn
the
recent
years,
much
effort
has
been
dedicated
to
the
development
of
in
vitro
gastrointestinal
systems
that
closely
mimic
the
physiological
processes
occurring
during
human
digestion
, i.e
.,
systems
that
provide
accurate
results
in
short
time
, serving
as
a
tool
for
rapid
screening
of
foods
or
delivery
systems
with
different
compositions
and
structures
[1]
. Static
gastrointestinal
systems
are
extensively
used
, however
, most
of
the
times
, their
simplified
gastrointestinal
conditions
do
not
accurately
simulate
the
complex
physicochemical
and
physiological
processes
that
occur
within
the
human
gastrointestinal
tract.
A dynamic
gastrointestinal
system
, composed
of
stomach,
duodenum,
jejunum
and
ileum
and
that
simulates
the
main
events
that
occur
during
human
digestion
has
been
used
by
our
group
to
evaluate
the
behaviour
of
food
structures
(from
macro
to
nano
scale
)
under
digestion
.
This
dynamic
gastrointestinal
system
can
be
used
for
example
to
predict
the
glycemic
index
of
food
(e
.g
.,
rice)
, predicting
the
blood
glucose
response
after
their
ingestion
and
allowing
the
se
lection
of
the
appropriate
diet
for
people
that
suffer
from
glucose
intol
erance.
Also
,
the
knowledge
of
the
behaviour
of
nanostructures
(e
.g
.,
carbohydrate-
based
nanostructures)
as
well
as
the
fate
of
the
bioactive
compounds
encapsulated
within
them
in
the
gastrointestinal
tract
is
of
utmost
importance
for
optimizing
the
bioactivity
of
encapsulated
compounds
and
to
ensure
that
these
structures
are
safe
for
human
consumption
.
In
fact,
the
development
of
novel
delivery
systems
for
food
applications
through
the
use
of
nanotechnology
has
been
extensive
ly
explored
[2]
.
Although
the
encapsulation
of
bioactive
compounds
in bio-based
nanostructures
have
been
reported
as
promising
mean
of
protecting
the
valuable
bioactive
compounds
and
providing
new
functiona
li
ties
(e.g.
increase
of
bioavailab
ility
),
the
use
of
very
small
particle
sizes
may
alter
the
biological
fate
of
the
ingested
materials
and
bioactive
compounds
,
wh
i
ch
could
potentially
have
adverse
effects
on
human
health
[3]Foundation
for Science and Technology (FCT) for her fellowship (SFRH/BPD/1011811/2014).
This work was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
(FCT) under the scope of the Project PTDC/AGR-TEC/52151/2014 and of the strategic funding
of UID/BIO/044691/2013 unit, and COMPETE 2020 (POCl-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European
Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 -Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. The authors would also like to thank the investement project n° 017931, co-funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through Programa Operacional
Competitividade
e lnternacionalização
(COMPETE
2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
