Hadza Tuber Digestibility and the TIM-1

An interesting study conducted by Schnorr et al. 2015, the researchers looked into the digestibility of underground storage organs (USOs, wild plant foods like Hadza tubers) through the use of a "dynamic in-vitro gastro-intestinal model", TIM-1. These foods are known to be toxic when raw and have indigestible husks, requiring food processing to be edible and provide metabolic benefits for Hadza hunter-gatherers; TIM-1 supposedly recreated the functioning of an actual GI tract, allowing the researchers to measure tuber digestibility and assess nutritional value.

While the study found that tubers were rich in minerals like calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium, absorption in the TIM-1 was low and varied, which the researchers attributed to variation in the species of tuber collected for testing. The TIM-1 was also found to be problematic in the absence of the inclusion of microbiota and independent metabolic rates, which would also affect food consumption.