In vitro digestibility and allergenicity of emulsified hen egg

Whole hen egg produced a fine stable O/W emulsion. The presence of egg proteins as part of the emulsion did not change their IgE binding, but it slightly increased the digestibility of the main allergens present in the egg-white. The observation that egg white proteins, forming part of an emulsion system did not become a much more effective substrate for pepsin indicates that, in the case of egg white proteins, there were not adsorption-induced changes that would considerably increase their flexibility and proteinase susceptibility. The increased digestibility of the emulsion resulted in a slightly lower IgE-binding capacity of the in vitro gastric and duodenal digests compared to those obtained from the egg in solution.

► Digestibility and IgE binding of a stable egg based O/W emulsion was firstly studied. ► Egg allergens did not change their human IgE-binding as part of the emulsion. ► The emulsion showed slightly higher digestibility than the egg solution. ► The IgE-binding of the emulsion digests was lower than that of the digested egg.