Linseed oil-in-water Pickering emulsions are stabilized by both sulfated CNCs (sCNCs) and octylamine-modified CNCs (oCNCs). oCNCs with hydrophobic moieties grafted on the surfaces of otherwise intact nanocrystals provided emulsions exhibiting stronger resistance to creaming of oil droplets, compared with unmodified sCNCs. sCNCs were not able to completely stabilize linseed oil in water at low CNC concentrations while oCNCs provided emulsions with no unemulsified oil residue at the same concentrations. Oil droplets in oCNC emulsions were smaller than those in samples stabilized by sCNCs, corresponding with an increased hydrophobicity of oCNCs. Cryo-SEM imaging of stabilized droplets demonstrated the formation of a CNC network at the oil–water interface, protecting the oil droplets from coalescence even after compaction under centrifugal force. These oil droplets, protected by a stabilized CNC network, were dispersed in a water-based commercial varnish, to generate a composite coating. Scratches made on these coatings self-healed as a result of the reaction of the linseed oil bled from the damaged droplets with oxygen. The leakage and drying of the linseed oil at the location of the scratches happened without intervention and was accelerated by the application of heat.

Elevated postprandial glucose (PPG) is a significant driver of non-communicable diseases globally. Carbohydrate-rich foods are a major determinant of PPG. Currently there is a limited understanding of how starch structure within a food-matrix interacts with the gut luminal environment to control PPG. We use pea seeds (Pisum sativum), as a model-food, to explore the contribution of starch structure, food-matrix and intestinal environment on PPG.Using stable isotope [ C] labelled seeds, coupled with synchronous gastric, duodenal and plasma sampling in vivo, we demonstrate that maintenance of cell structure and changes in starch morphology are closely related to lower glucose availability in the small intestine, resulting in acutely lower PPG and promoting changes in the gut bacterial composition associated with long term metabolic health improvements. This work offers huge potential to improve the design of food products targeted at moderating PPG and therefore lowering the risk of non-communicable diseases.

Polysaccharides from fermented carrot pulp (WSP-p) show better anti-diabetic effects than those from un-fermented carrot pulp (WSP-n), and functional properties of polysaccharides depend on their structure. In this study, both WSP-p and WSP-n were separated into three homogeneous fractions as WSP-p-1, WSP-p-2, WSP-p-3, WSP-n-1, WSP-n-2 and WSP-n-3.The weight-average molecular weight of all of fractions from WSP-p showed a downward trend compared with the corresponding fraction from WSP-n. The functional groups in WSPp and WSP-n were similar. The morphologies of WSP-p-2 and WSP-p-3 from SEM were similar to those of WSP-n-2 and WSP-n-3, but there were more fragmented particles adhered to WSP-n-1 than to WSP-p-1. Monosaccharide composition and methylation analysis confirmed that WSP-p-1, WSP-p-2, WSP-n-1 and WSP-n-2 were typical rhamnogalacturonan I-type polysaccharides with 1,4-linked -D-galacturonic acid residues, but WSP-p-3 and WSPn-3 contained predominantly homogalacturonan regions with 1,4-GalpA linkages. 1 H and 13 C NMR of fractions from WSP-p showed the similar spectra to those from WSP-n. These findings suggest that probiotic fermentation mainly cleaved the linkages between repeating units within polysaccharides during fermentation, and not only reduced their molecular weight but also improved the homogeneity in their molecular size distribution, which improves their biofunctions.