CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Complementary feeding starts at around six months of age because neither breast milk nor formula assure the proper nutrition of infants. Therefore, along with breast milk, solid foods are gradually introduced, particularly cereal-based foods, which will provide starch as a new source of energy and nutrients. As a result, the need of an adequate in vitro digestion method to study the infuence of diferent aspects of weaning period is unquestionable. This critical review summarizes the in vitrodigestion methods available for the analysis of starch hydrolysis under infant conditions considering diferent features, namely, starch digestion, infant digestive conditions and in vitro models suitable for the study of starch digestion (static, semi-dynamic and dynamic). Key factors such as enzyme concentrations, transit time, oral, gastric and intestinal conditions and diferences with current adult models, have been addressed. The need for standardized infant digestion models adapted to the complementary feeding period was discussed. Existing literature data demonstrate that more efort has to be done to improve the research on this issue, in order to obtain comparable results that would address a better understanding of the digestibility of diferent food nutrients under infant conditions facilitating the development of appropriate formulations that may assure proper infant nutrition.