Morphological changes in natural zeolites in simulated digestion fluid

Abstract

Natural zeolites are bioactive materials. They have different applications; they are used as additives in animal feeds to support biomass production and used to treat stomach ulcers incisions in humans as they act as buffers to reduce stomach acidity. Based on different health applications, structural stability of zeolite during digestion is important to understand possible interactions, positive and negative side effects with the digestion. In this study, it was aimed to investigate possible morphological changes in natural zeolites during simulated digestion. Based on this aim, radical inhibition capacity of zeolite was investigated and possible adsorptive, morphological changes were analyzed by scanning electron micrographs (SEM), Infrared spectrum (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. 45% inhibition for ABST radical was found with 3g/100ml zeolite. SEM analyses showed that there were no changes in surface morphology in digested samples. Elemental results indicated no structural loss where wt% of Al and Si element's in control (Al:8.1; Si: 39) and digested samples (Al:8.2; Si: 38.3) were almost same. Results were also confirmed by IR and XRD analysis. Besides SEM and IR results indicated that there were no adsorption of digestive matter on zeolite surfaces. It was concluded that zeolites preserved their structural stability during simulated digestion.