Recent developments and prospects in the extraction, composition, stability, food applications, and in vitro digestion of plant oil bodies

Abstract

Oil bodies (OBs) are micron-or submicron-sized sub-organelles widely found in plants seeds and nuts. The structure of OBs is composed of a core of neutral lipids covered by a phospholipid-protein layer, which ensures the stability of OBs under extreme environmental conditions and further protects core lipids as energy reserves. As naturally pre-emulsified oil-in-water emulsions, OBs have been gradually applied to replace synthetically engineered oil droplets. In this paper, the recent research on the extraction, composition, stability, food applications, in vitro digestion, and future perspectives of plant OBs were reviewed. Recent studies have focused on the large-scale extraction techniques and OBs surface protein identification and function. Electrostatic deposition and viscosity effect of polysaccharides significantly improve the stability of OBs emulsions. OBs have broad application prospects in replacing milk fat droplets, as fat replacers and delivery vehicles, and fabricating emulsion-gels, oleogels or edible films. Notably, oleosins present a potential allergen risk. OBs are digested slowly, resulting in increased satiety and effectively helping to reduce calorie intake, but this can negatively affect the bioaccessibility of nutritional compounds in OBs. When OB as a delivery vehicle, its natural structure may be disrupted, whereas OBs-based delivery system facilitates the bioaccessibility of hydrophobic active compounds.

Designing a More Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Food Supply: A Roadmap for Future Food and Agricultural Research

“…These edible oils may then be used to formulate oil-in-water emulsions (such as dressings, sauces, creams, or beverages) by homogenizing them with an aqueous solution containing an emulsifier . Alternatively, natural oil bodies could be extracted from plant sources and then used directly to form emulsified foods. , Natural oil bodies consist of a triacylglycerol core surrounded by a layer of phospholipids and proteins and therefore have a similar structure to the oil droplets found in conventional emulsions. The extraction and utilization of oil bodies, rather than bulk oils, could therefore reduce the total number of processing operations required, which may have sustainability benefits.…”

Modeling the rheological properties of plant‐based foods: Soft matter physics principles

“…The particles in NG‐PB foods may be comprised of different edible substances depending on their origin and processing, including proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, phospholipids, minerals, and their combinations (Kyriakopoulou et al, 2021; McClements & Grossmann, 2022). For instance, the oil bodies in many oil‐rich plant materials (such as nuts and beans) consist of a triacylglycerol core surrounded by a layer of phospholipids with proteins embedded in it (Hao et al, 2022; Zaaboul et al, 2022). These oil bodies may be present in NG‐PB milks created using top‐down methods that utilize size‐reduction operations to disrupt plant tissues and release the oil bodies (McClements et al, 2019).…”