Insights into the digestive processes of normal and high-amylose rice using realistic boluses formed in the bio-inspired oral mastication simulator (iBOMS-III).

Mastication is essential for preparing food bolus for swallowing and digestion. This study employed the bio-inspired oral simulator (iBOMS-III) to investigate the effects of mastication on physical properties and starch hydrolysis of normal rice (NR) and high-amylose rice (HR), while validating its results through comparison with in vivo data from human subjects. The median particle size (d) of NR (1.266, 0.931, 0.776 mm) and HR (1.32, 1.04, 0.928 mm) boluses from iBOMS-III at 12, 14, and 20 cycles closely matched human boluses at the swallowing threshold, particularly after 14 and 20 cycles. Starch hydrolysis in NR increased from 76.6 % to 91.3 %, while HR hydrolysis ranged from 63.4 % to 73.3 %. Boluses from iBOMS-III with 14 and 20 cycles showed starch digestibility consistent with in vivo data (84.2 % for NR, 71.3 % for HR). These findings demonstrate that iBOMS-III effectively replicated human mastication behaviors, producing boluses comparable to those observed in vivo.