Pepsin digestibility of proteins in sorghum and other major cereals

Abstract

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor] is highly digestible in the rat. Sorghum is much less digestible than wheat, maize and rice in young children. Because the rat does not show these digestibility differences, an empirical pepsin digestion method was developed in 1981 which simulates the digestion values found in children. The method was improved and used to analyze wheat, maize, rice, millet and sorghum, and certain processed samples of millet and sorghum. The pepsin digestion values parallel those found in children for wheat, maize, rice and sorghum. A processed sorghum product that gave a high digestion value in children also gave a high value with the in vitro pepsin method.