Physical Properties, Microstructure, Intermolecular Forces, and Oxidation Stability of Soybean Oil Oleogels Structured by Different Cellulose Ethers

Abstract

Edible oleogels are prepared by different kinds of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and methylcellulose (MC) through emulsion‐templated method. Physical properties of the oleogels such as rheological behavior and oil binding capacity are evaluated. Polarizing light microscopy (PLM) as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to gain information on the microstructure of the samples. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) are used to evaluate intermolecular forces between the polysaccharides in the oleogels. It is found that oil‐water interface layers of the emulsions are strengthened by polysaccharides (HPMC and xanthan gum [XG] or MC and XG), and it prohibits oil droplets from coalescing during drying. The formation of semi‐crystalline structure of oleogels to trap the oil is attributed to intramolecular/intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the polysaccharides. The higher viscosity grade results in better structure with respect to emulsions, vacuum dried emulsions, and oleogels compared to that of lower viscosity grade for HPMC or MC. The mechanical strengths of vacuum dried emulsions and oleogels stabilized by HPMC are harder compared to that of MC. The study will provide guidance for the production of functional fat products with zero trans and low saturated fatty acids. Practical Applications: HPMC and MC, two types of dietary fiber, are two kinds of the most commonly used cellulose ethers which are food‐approved additives. The oleogels prepared by HPMC and MC using an emulsion‐templated method can be used to produce functional fat products with zero trans and low saturated fatty acids, which will be beneficial to human health. The properties of oleogels structured by different HPMC and MC with the different degree of polymerization (DP) and substitution (DS) are different. The physical properties, microstructure, and intermolecular forces for oleogels are evaluated in order to lay the basis for the application of the oleogels. A schematic representation of the structure of oleogels stabilized by hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and xanthan gum (XG).

Designing Hydrocolloid-Based Oleogels With High Physical, Chemical, and Structural Stability

“…The most common limitations of the EC oleogels are the poor oxidative stability because of the high temperatures (>135-140 • C) required to induce the polymer EC gelation (Gravelle et al, 2012). Therefore, using hydrocolloid-based oleogelators including different sources of proteins (Patel et al, 2015;de Vries et al, 2017) and polysaccharides like celluloses ethers, methylcellulose (MC) (Patel et al, 2014a;Tanti et al, 2016a,b;Meng et al, 2018a), and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) (Patel et al, 2013;Oh and Lee, 2018;Oh et al, 2019;Bascuas et al, 2020), have attracted noticeable research attention. Hydrocolloids are widely used in food because of their commercial availability, large production, and low cost (Scholten, 2019;Abdolmaleki et al, 2020).…”

Structure and stability of edible oleogels prepared with different unsaturated oils and hydrocolloids

“…The use of vacuum drying allowed to reduce the drying temperature; thus, oxidation was reduced. On the other hand, the water removing process adopted during vacuum drying could be decreasing the oxidation of the oleogel as reported by Meng et al ()…”

“…The use of vacuum drying allowed to reduce the drying temperature; thus, oxidation was reduced. On the other hand, the water removing process adopted during vacuum drying could be decreasing the oxidation of the oleogel as reported by Meng et al (2018c) The oleogels made with olive oil presented the lowest values of k 232 when they were prepared using either conventional or vacuum drying (OC or OV). Regarding k 270 values, they were also lower for OV, however, when using conventional drying, FC had significantly lower k 270 values.…”

Synthesis, physicochemical properties, and health aspects of structured lipids: A review

“…To form an emulsion‐templated oleogel, the drying process is required for the removal of water in the continuous phase, but it has been found that oil droplets in concentrated emulsions tend to coalesce during drying (Patel et al., ). A strengthened emulsion interface has been reported to be effective against oil droplet coalescence by utilizing a synergistic effect of biopolymers, such as a combination of regenerated cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC; Jiang et al., ), methylcellulose (MC)/hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and xanthan gum (Meng, Qi, Guo, Wang, & Liu, , , ; Patel, Cludts, Bin Sintang, Lesaffer, & Dewettinck, ), and gelatin and xanthan gum (XG) (Patel et al., ). In a recent work, a ternary complex formed by gelatin, tannic acid, and flaxseed gum has also been fabricated to produce a stable oleogel from soybean oil‐in‐water emulsions, due to stabilizing effect of both the interfacial adsorbed particles and the bulk polymer gel network (Qiu, Huang, Li, Ma, & Wang, ).…”

“…However, it should be noted that the oleogel in this study was obtained from freeze‐dried emulsions, and oven heating can be more suitable for industrial production of oleogels. In a recent work of Meng, Qi, Guo, Wang, and Liu (), soybean oil in water emulsions stabilized by HPMC/XG or MC/XG have been used as the template to produce oleogel by applying vacuum (90 °C, ∼12 hr) or normal oven drying (90 °C, ∼48 hr). It has been found that oleogels showed better oxidative stability than soybean oil during storage (20 °C, 20 days).…”