Brazil nut press cake-enriched spread: unveiling in vitro gastrointestinal digestion behavior and its effects on nutrient release

Limited research has been done to understand the digestion of Brazil nut press cake, a byproduct of Brazil nut oil processing that is increasingly used as a food ingredient. This study aimed to investigate the impact on digestion parameters and nutrient release of varying concentrations of press cake in a spread consumed as part of a meal during dynamic in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. Simulated meals containing toasted bread with different spreads formulations (varying 0, 5, or 10 % of spread mass as press cake), and one meal without spread as control, were submitted to in vitro oral digestion, in vitro gastric digestion in the Human Gastric Simulator (HGS), and a static in vitro small intestinal digestion. Meals with Brazil nut spread exhibited a pH range of 5.30 to 5.36 after 30 min, gradually decreasing to ∼1.4 by 180 min. Meal and digestion time significantly influenced the gastric emptying of dry matter and lipids (p < 0.05), with no significant differences (p > 0.05) between emptying for any meals containing spread, possibly due to the formation of emulsified structures. During digestion, starch hydrolysis showed maximum release after 60 and 90 min for meals of spread and bread, respectively. The 0 and 5 % spread-based meals achieved a total protein release of 76 %, while the 10 % PC reached just 58 %. This study provides insights into Brazil nut press cake utilization within meals, revealing the nutrient release differed significantly with the spread meals, delaying starch, protein, fatty acid, and polyphenol release, particularly during small intestinal digestion.