Knee jerk rather than gut reaction

OXFORD - A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Campaigners for an immediate moratorium on genetically modified foods and feedstuffs last week seized on the publication of data from a Dutch research group working with an artificial gut, claiming that the work casts doubt on the safety of such foods. But rather than undermining the case for GMO foods, Robert Havenaar, the designer of the artificial gut, told BioCentury that the model instead could be used to confirm their safety.

With funds from the Dutch food industry and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Havenaar and his colleagues at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute (Zeist, the Netherlands) have developed a computer-controlled model of the stomach and intestines designed to mimic human food digestion. "The model is able to mimic pH concentrations, bile excretions, electrolyte concentrations, the process of peristalsis including the contact time of food in the gut. It is a very dynamic system," he told BioCentury...