Digestible nutrients and available (ATP) energy contents of two varieties of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa and Actinidia chinensis)

Abstract

A model, which combines a dual in vivo–in vitro digestibility assay and stoichiometric relationships describing nutrient catabolism, has been recently developed to allow prediction of the available energy (AE) content of a food in terms of its ATP yield. The model uses the growing pig as an in vivo model for upper gastrointestinal tract digestion in humans. Terminal ileal digesta from the pig are incubated with human faecal inocula (in vitro fermentation model) to simulate human hindgut fermentation. The respective in vivo and in vitro digestibility assays provide predictions of the ileal absorbed and hindgut-fermented nutrient contents of a food which are then used to predict ATP production post-absorption, based on known stoichiometric relationships. In this study, the model was used to determine the AE contents of fresh, ripe Hayward (Actinidia deliciosavar Hayward) and Hort16A (Actinidia chinensis var Hort16A) kiwifruit. Kiwifruit pulp, containing 3gkg−1 of titanium dioxide, included as an indigestible marker, was fed to growing pigs and terminal ileal digesta were collected. Ileal nutrient digestibilities were determined. A sample of digesta was incubated in vitro with a fresh human faecal inoculum and the fermentable organic matter determined. The predicted available (ATP) energy contents of the Hayward and Hort16A kiwifruits were 5.9 and 6.2kJg−1 dry matter, respectively, approximately 44–47% of the determined apparent digestible energy (ADE) content. The AE contents of the kiwifruit, expressed relative to the AE content of dextrin (a highly digestible source of glucose) were 0.57 and 0.61 for Hayward and Hort16A, respectively. Comparable ratios for metabolisable energy (ME) were 0.74 and 0.73. The predicted AE from kiwifruit was much lower than the predicted ME from kiwifruit when compared to dextrin. The ME values overestimate the energy content of kiwifruit that is available to the cell. AE was not only lower than ME but the two energy systems ranked the kiwifruit types differently in terms of energy supply to the body. The relatively low energy content per unit of dry matter and high water content of kiwifruit make kiwifruit an ideal weight loss food.