Comparing the Lipid Self-Assembly Behaviour and Fatty Acid Composition of Plant-Based Drinks to Bovine Milk During Digestion

Abstract

Plant-based drinks are increasing in number as an option for consumers as an alternative to bovine milk, however little is known about their behaviour during digestion. In this study, a static in-vitro digestion model was coupled with synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to compare the lipid self-assembly behaviour of plant-based drinks and bovine milk during digestion. The diffraction profiles were combined with principal component analysis (PCA) of the fatty acid (FA) composition during digestion. The mesophase behaviour and the FA composition of the plant-based drinks were found to be substantially different from bovine milk. The PCA inferred that the plant-based drinks all had similar FA compositions with slight changes in oleic and linoleic acid ratios with correlation between the FA composition and the lipid self-assembly behaviour. These findings increase the understanding of the behaviour of plant-based drinks and aid further development of new and existing plant-based dairy substitution products.

Keywords: Lipid self-assembly, in vitro digestion, plant-based drinks, Bovine milk, small-angle X-ray scattering