Gastrointestinal bioaccessibility and fiber mitigation of tropane alkaloids assessed on tea and cookies by in vitro digestion

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDTropane alkaloids (TAs) are toxic compounds with a high anticholinergic effect. They have been widely analyzed in food samples, but their fate in the gastrointestinal tract has not been evaluated yet.RESULTSIn this study, static in vitro digestion was performed to assess gastrointestinal bioaccessibility of the most common TAs on tea and home‐made cookies. Cookies enriched with dietary fiber (pectin, arabinogalactan, and κ‐carrageenan) were also tested to evaluate their influence on TA bioaccessibility. Two extraction methods and a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry method were optimized and validated. Bioaccessibility for tea (60–105%) was higher than for cookies (39–93%) (P = 0.001–0.002), which indicates TAs could be more easily absorbed when they are contaminating tea. Digestion of cookies enriched with 50 g kg−1 of different fibers showed that, although no significant changes were observed in the gastric phase (P = 0.084–0.920), duodenal bioaccessibility was significantly reduced (P = 0.008–0.039). Pectin was the fiber with a better mitigation effect for all the compounds.CONCLUSIONTAs bioaccessibility was determined after in vitro digestion of contaminated tea and cookies. Dietary fiber seems to be a promising mitigation strategy, significantly reducing TA bioaccessibility percentages. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.