Effect of oat β-glucan on in vitro digestion characteristics of set-type yogurt

The main objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of added 0.3% (w/w) oat β-glucan (OG) in set-type yogurt on its protein digestion using an in vitro gastrointestinal model. During gastric digestion phase, the amount of soluble proteins and peptides increased to 25% and 40% for control yogurt (yogurt without OG) and 0.3% OG yogurt, respectively. Buccal digestion has little effect on the structure of yogurts, while large spherical vesicles were formed for both control yogurt and 0.3% OG yogurt after gastric digestion. The presence of 0.3% OG promoted the hydrolysis of yogurt in the gastric digestion phase and caused higher antioxidant activity. Compared with that of control yogurt, the inhibition of cholesterol solubility of 0.3% OG yogurt showed no differences after buccal digestion but significantly higher after gastrointestinal digestion (21.3% for gastric and 22.7% for intestinal digestion). Overall, this study enhances the understanding of digestion characteristics of 0.3% OG-fortified set-type yogurt and provides a theoretical basis for the development of this kind of dairy products.