QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Geboes, K. P. Articles by Verbeke, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Geboes, K. P. Articles by Verbeke, K.

---

Nutritional Methodology

Validation of a New Test Meal for a Protein Digestion Breath Test in Humans

Karen P. Geboes¹, Bert Bammens^*, Anja Luypaerts, Ramon Malheiros^,2, Johan Buyse, Pieter Evenepoel^*, Paul Rutgeerts and Kristin Verbeke

Department of Gastroenterology; ^* Department of Nephrology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg; and Laboratory of Physiology and Immunology of Domestic Animals, Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences, Catholic University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

¹To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: karen.geboes{at}uz.kuleuven.ac.be.

Previously, overall protein assimilation after the ingestion of a pure protein meal was studied. In this study, the kinetics of protein assimilation in humans were investigated after the ingestion of a complex meal, which more closely represents a physiologically normal situation. Overall protein assimilation in humans after the ingestion of a pancake meal, containing 12 g of fat, 27 g of carbohydrate, and 19 g of protein, was evaluated in 26 normal volunteers. Both the egg white and yolk of L-[1-¹³C]-leucine–substituted eggs were used to make the batter. The labeled eggs were produced by feeding laying hens a standard chicken diet supplemented with 3 g/kg of L-[1-¹³C]-leucine (99%, mol:mol). High enrichment levels of protein with adequate labeling patterns were obtained in eggs from laying hens fed the L-[1-¹³C]-leucine–substituted diet. The isotopic enrichment of leucine at plateau was equal in egg white and yolk. The overall tracer recovery in egg proteins was 22.5%. The overall protein assimilation parameters in subjects that consumed the pancake meal did not differ from those obtained in subjects that consumed a single protein meal (mean cumulative ¹³C recovery/6 h = 17.22 ± 4.74%, with a maximal ¹³C recovery/h of 5.65 ± 1.48%, which was attained 145 ± 25 min after ingestion of the meal). The pancake test meal prepared with eggs intrinsically labeled with L-[1-¹³C]-leucine is ideal for the study of protein assimilation. The incorporation of differently labeled substrates into a single test meal allows the assessment of different gastrointestinal processes in the overall assimilation of proteins.

KEY WORDS: • breath test • protein digestion • stable isotopes

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. Bammens, P. Evenepoel, K. Verbeke, and Y. Vanrenterghem Impairment of small intestinal protein assimilation in patients with end-stage renal disease: extending the malnutrition-inflammation-atherosclerosis concept Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, December 1, 2004; 80(6): 1536 - 1543. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]