Effect of Heating on Apparent Digestibility of Some Infant Formulations and Cereal-Legume Blends Available in Bangladesh

Abstract

The apparent digestibility index (DI) of infant formulations obtained from the local market of Bangladesh were studied by monitoring the change in absorbance at 280 nm during enzyme action. Acetone powder of the samples were used as substrate and the enzyme was pepsin (EC.3.4.23.1). In every case the enzyme protein ratio was 1:12.5. The highest DI was for a milk powder based product called Product 103 and the least DI was observed for a wheat and fruit based Product 102 having a DI of 7.57 X 10·(4) and 2.29 X 10·(4) respectively. There were no significant differences in the apparent digestibility of most of the infant formulations. Effect of heat treatment on digestibility was assessed after heating for 5 minutes at 100oC. There were significant differences in DI before and after heating. The DI of wheat and fruit based product Product 103 was 5.63 fold greater (12.91 X 10·(4) greater than the value before heating. (authors)