Why do protein hydrolysates improve digestibility beyond their own nutritional contribution?

Dear colleagues,

Today we will explain that once the protein is digested, it is absorbed by the enterocytes in the form of free amino acids and dipeptides and tripeptides by specific transporters that exist in the microvilli of the enterocytes.

Although some peptides of more than 3 amino acids can also be absorbed by being recognized by certain membrane receptors and by transcytosis, this is not a common method of transport, but is essential on certain occasions, for example in piglets to absorb maternal immunoglobulins secreted by colostrum.

Di- and tripeptides are transported faster than amino acids, so a good balance between free amino acids and peptides may be the best combination to provide an almost immediate protein source to the enterocyte.

Once absorbed, peptides and amino acids are released into the bloodstream and end up mainly in the liver, although certain amino acids, such as branched-chain amino acids, have tropism for muscle and brain, and glutamine and asparagine for intestine and kidney.

The key to the effect of protein hydrolysates on the digestibility of the diet is that the last part of the digestion process is carried out at the end by peptidases, disaccharidases and phosphatases produced by the enterocytes themselves, enzymes, therefore proteins, which must be built up from amino acids.

Thus, a source of immediately absorbed proteins in the form of free amino acids, dipeptides and tripeptides can help very effectively the digestibility of the diet, acting as a digestive tonic that helps the enzymatic production of enterocytes at the beginning of the digestion process in the small intestine.

To conclude we just want to remind that not all hydrolysates are equally effective, since the origin of the raw material and the type of hydrolysis can greatly affect such important parameters as palatability and the presence or absence of bioactive peptides, in NBG we produce fish protein hydrolysates, elaborated with NBG EnzyGoal technology, based on specific enzymatic hydrolysis to obtain the maximum potential when incorporated into animal diets.

Finally, we attach an article showing how a hydrolyzed protein has an accelerated absorption rate compared to its non-hydrolyzed variant.

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