Lecithins are frequently applied in the food industry as emulsifiers, viscosity regulators, and dispersing agents. The main aim of the present work was to study the emulsifying capability of diverse sunflower lecithins so as to evaluate the functionality of these by-products, which are not extensively used at present. The experimental results obtained for water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions showed that dispersions containing levels of 0.1% lecithins were more stable against coalescence than a control system, whereas those with 1% emulsifying agent exhibited the opposite behavior. On the other hand, faster sedimentation kinetics were observed at a concentration of 0.1% than at 1%. Lecithins with high phospholipid content, especially phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol, were found to be the best emulsifying agents for W/O dispersions. In the case of oil-in-water emulsions, it was possible to observe two processes: creaming of emulsions with the addition of 1% of lecithins, and instant creaming followed by coalescence of the cream phase in those cases corresponding to 0.1% added lecithin.
vol/vol) were formulated with sunflower lecithin to characterize the destabilization processes and the vesicles formed. Dispersions containing levels of 0.1% lecithin were more stable against coalescence than the control system. When the lecithin concentration was increased to 0.5%, the presence of spherical structures, such as vesicles, was recorded that occluded the emulsion inside. Vesicles underwent a creaming process, and a narrow coalescence zone was detected in the upper layers of the samples. As the lecithin concentration was increased, more vesicles were formed, representing as much as 80% of the system volume. A reduction in the average size of vesicles was observed at high lecithin concentrations (2.5 and 5.0%). The vesicle size distribution changed as a function of lecithin concentration, decreasing the ratio of large to small particles in the same way. Coalescence took place in zones where large-volume vesicles were in contact in the upper portion of the tube sample. The results obtained suggest that sunflower lecithins present interesting emulsifying properties that may prove useful in food technology. FIG. 1. Micrographs corresponding to oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions formulated with (A) a control system and (B) 0.5, (C) 1.0, (D) 2.5, or (E) 5.0% sunflower lecithin. Micrographs were taken at time = 0 min.
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