Predicting satiety responses of cereals in vitro: Oatmeal shows gastric gelling behavior.

In a clinical study Standard Quaker Oatmeal (SQO) was significantly more satiating than Honey Nut Cheerios (HNC). In order to investigate mechanism of action in the satiety responses to these selected oat based cereals, two models were used to assess the physic‐chemical properties of cereals under digestive conditions: SIMPHYD (NIZO Food Research) and a viscosity measurement during simulated in vitro starch digestion. SQO, Instant Quaker Oatmeal (IQO) and HNC along with a positive control (alginate) were subjected to the SYMPHYD gelling assay. During simulation of digestion all cereals increased measured forces relative to the positive control. Additionally SQO and IQO immediately gelled in the model compared to HNC, where gastric volume of the solid particles increased over time. Despite a viscosity decrease due to starch digestion of SQO and HNC, SQO viscosity remained significantly higher than HNC viscosity. This suggests that gastric gelling and underlying viscosity due to soluble fiber may be important determinants of the satiating potency of these cereals in addition to the mode of preparation of the cereals. Supported by: PepsiCo R&D