Gastric emptying pattern and disintegration kinetics of cooked rice in a 3D printed in vitro dynamic digestion model ARK®

Understanding the gastric digestion process is essential for evaluating the bioaccessibility of nutrients from food matrices. The objective of this study was to investigate the kinetics of disintegration and gastric emptying patterns in a 3D printed stomach (ARK (R)) with white rice as the study sample. Modified power exponential model was used to fit the gastric retention data and the average t(1/2) and t(lag) values of the solid fractions were found to be 109.22 +/- 4.20 and 84.16 +/- 5.72 min, respectively. During the disintegration process, the weight percentage of medium size particles (similar to 0.35 mm) was found to be higher at 30 and 60 min. Moreover, there was a sharp decrease in the percentage of fine particles (<0.125 mm) at 90 and 120 min. The ARK (R) could effectively mimic the physiochemical process of the human stomach, providing promising insights for future studies on the development of novel and functional food products.