Model gut is set to go it alone

The Institute of Food Research is spinning off its model gut technology into a separate company following a surge of interest from the food industry.

The model, which mimics the physical and biochemical processes of human digestion in the stomach and small intestine, has myriad applications, said team leader Dr Martin Wickham.

"We thought we might get some interest from smaller food companies and the pharmaceutical industry but it's been the big, multinational food companies approaching us about a huge range of applications."

Some of the most interesting approaches had come from companies wanting to test the efficacy of weight-management ingredients before launching expensive clinical trials, he said.

"We can look at their effect on the time that food stays in the stomach or agents that gel in gastric conditions, both of which can effect satiety. We're also researching the survival of probiotics in the gut and looking at nutrient release so their bioavailability can be established."

One potential application was providing indicative glycaemic index (GI) ratings for foods without having to conduct human studies, he said. "We can look at glucose breakdown and we have been talking to one supermarket that is very interested in this application.

"However, we would need to have an agreement on a standard way of measuring GI as results coming out of different GI testing facilities at the moment are not the same."

Work was also progressing on improving the process of getting food into the gut in a way that correctly mimicked what happened in the mouth, he said. "At the moment, we can hand grind foods to simulate chewing or chew foods ourselves and spit into the model stomach.

"But we can only do that with food grade materials."