Commercial cheeses with different texture have different disintegration and protein/peptide release rates during simulated in vitro digestion

Solid food disintegration in the stomach has recently been linked to food texture, which changes during digestion. This phenomenon is likely to affect the kinetics of protein digestion and therefore associated postprandial metabolic responses. Depending upon the variety, the cheese protein and lipid content as well as the texture can be modulated, illustrating complexity. Five commercial cheeses, covering a range of textural properties, were selected and characterised. Cheese particles were submitted to an in vitro digestion model to study cheese disintegration and protein/peptide release. Cheese disintegration was affected by cheese texture and composition. At the end of gastric digestion, elastic cheeses (mozzarella) were less disintegrated when compared with ripened and soft cheeses with high fat content (Camembert, aged Cheddar). The protein digestion was different amongst cheeses according to different disintegration rates. Cheese structural and textural properties, attributed to processing parameters, can be used to modulate gastro-intestinal digestion of cheese proteins.