Structure of protein emulsion in food impacts intestinal microbiota, caecal luminal content composition and distal intestine characteristics in rats.

Scope: Few studies have evaluated in vivo the impact of food structure on digestion, absorption of nutrients and on microbiota composition and metabolism. In this study we evaluated in rat the impact of two structures of protein emulsion in food on gut microbiota, luminal content composition, and intestinal characteristics.

Methods And Results: Rats received for 3 weeks two diets of identical composition but based on lipid-protein matrices of liquid fine (LFE) or gelled coarse (GCE) emulsion.