Understanding the effect of food on human health is a current research priority in Europe but it is also a strong consumer demand. People want to be aware of the effects on their body of the food they eat. After ingestion, food will be broken down in the gut releasing components (peptides, amino acids, minerals, fatty acids…) that, beside their nutritional properties, may have a biological action.

INFOGEST aims at improving the current scientific knowledge on how foods are disintegrated during digestion. This improved knowledge will help the scientific community and the industry to design new foods with improved nutritional and functional properties.

INFOGEST was created under a cost Action [FA1005] with the aim to fulfil the need for developing a trans-European network to improve dissemination of critical research findings, develop truly multidisciplinary collaborations and harmonise approaches between groups and discipline areas spanning the main stages of food digestion.

After the success of the European action [2011-2015], INFOGEST members has continue working together.

INFOGEST is now an international network. The specific objectives of the network are to:

• compare the existing digestion models, harmonize the methodologies, validate them towards in vivo data and propose guidelines for performing new experiments
• identify the bioactive components that are released in the gut during food digestion
• demonstrate the effect of these compounds on human health
• determine the effect of the matrix structure on the bioavailability of food nutrients and bioactive molecules.

Connections between academic partners and industry are strong thanks to the participation to INFOGEST of more than 50 food companies. INFOGEST organizes 2 workshops per year and 1 international conference every two years.

Up to now (December 2020) INFOGEST gathers more than 440 research scientists from 45 countries (EU, Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA, Japan…). It is open to new participants.