In vitro digestibility and allergenicity of emulsified hen egg

Abstract

Whole hen egg produced a fine stable O/W emulsion. The presence of egg proteins as part of the emulsion did not change their IgE binding, but it slightly increased the digestibility of the main allergens present in the egg-white. The observation that egg white proteins, forming part of an emulsion system did not become a much more effective substrate for pepsin indicates that, in the case of egg white proteins, there were not adsorption-induced changes that would considerably increase their flexibility and proteinase susceptibility. The increased digestibility of the emulsion resulted in a slightly lower IgE-binding capacity of the in vitro gastric and duodenal digests compared to those obtained from the egg in solution. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.