Milk enhances intestinal absorption of green tea catechins in in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cells model

The effect of milk on the absorption of polyphenols is still controversial so far. In order to determine the impact of milk addition on green tea catechins bioaccessibility and intestinal absorption an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell model was applied. Green tea extract (GTE) was solubilized in distilled water at 23 °C and 100 °C, combined with skimmed milk (GTE + 10% milk and GTE + 25% milk) and subjected to simulated gastric and intestinal digestion, followed by transepithelial absorption in Caco-2 cells monolayers. In the mixture with milk, gallated catechins: ECG and EGCG showed binding to milk proteins while EC and EGC seemed to have weaker affinity. Catechins were stable during gastric incubation and very sensitive to intestinal digestion. Bioaccessibility of green tea catechins brewed at 100 °C was higher than brewed at 23 °C. Catechins from digested GTE with 10% and 25% milk exhibited enhanced intestinal permeability in Caco-2 model in comparison to non-digested GTE and digested GTE without milk. Apparent permeability coefficients (Papp) of EGCG and ECG in digested GTE with 25% milk were significantly higher compared to those in GTE with 10% milk, and amounted to 2.41 × 10− 6 cm/s and 1.39 × 10− 6 cm/s. The recoveries of all catechins in GTE with milk in Caco-2 cells after 2 h incubation were significantly higher than that without milk. To summarize, these data suggest that milk addition may increase catechin bioavailability by enhancing their transepithelial absorption and uptake from green tea extract