Food structure book provides the link between food, digestion, and health

Academic Press (Elsevier) has published the first edition of “Food Structures, Digestion, and Health” edited by Mike Boland, Matt Golding, and Harjinder Singh. The book has been developed from a selected range of conference presentations from the inaugural “ Food Structures, Digestion, and Health” conference organised by the Riddet Institute in 2012 and has contributions from authors from a range of nine countries across Australasia, Europe and North America. The effects of food structure on bioavailability and rates of digestion and consequent release of nutrients and bioactives has been an important emerging aspect of food and nutrition over the last decade. The aim of both the conference and the book was to bring together expertise from around the world to discuss and present on this important topic. The 2012 conference has since been followed up by a second conference on the same topic in Melbourne in October 2013, and the Riddet Institute will be hosting the third conference in the series in late 2015.

Food Structures, Digestion, and Health is structured around four key aspects: 1. Understanding food structures in natural and processed foods and their behaviour during physiological processing, 2. Impact of food structures and matrices on nutrient uptake and bioavailability, 3. Modelling the gastrointestinal tract, 4. Food developments to meet the modern challenges of human health. An important aspect of this book is the strong industry input, providing a strong dose of practicality to sit alongside the more theoretical aspects of the topic.