Consumer concern about human and environmental health is encouraging food manufacturers to use more natural and sustainable food ingredients. In particular, there is interest in replacing synthetic ingredients with natural ones, and in replacing animal-based ingredients with plant-based ones. This article provides a review of the various types of natural emulsifiers with potential application in the food industry, including phospholipids, biosurfactants, proteins, polysaccharides, and natural colloidal particles. Increased utilization of natural emulsifiers in food products may lead to a healthier and more sustainable food supply. However, more research is needed to identify, isolate, and characterize new sources of commercially viable natural emulsifiers suitable for food use.

Recent Advances in the Utilization of Natural Emulsifiers to Form and Stabilize Emulsions.

Background Proteins from different sources serve as primary food components, while polyphenols, as secondary metabolites, are abundantly present in plant. Both components play an important role in functional properties and quality of food products. Interaction between proteins and polyphenols, yielding “protein-polyphenol conjugate”, spontaneously occurs in most of food systems, and is known to have an impact on sensorial, functional, and nutraceutical properties of the food products. Scope and approach Protein-polyphenol conjugate can be implemented for improvement of food quality. In this article, mechanism and factors affecting protein-polyphenol interactions as well as the functionalities of protein-polyphenol conjugates, especially solubility, thermal stability, emulsifying, gelling and antioxidant properties, are revisited. The information on potential applications of protein-polyphenol conjugates in emulsions, protein-based films, and protein gels, as well as conjugates-based delivery systems is also discussed and reviewed. Key findings and conclusions The interaction of proteins and polyphenols mainly results from non-covalent (H-bonding, electrostatic interactions) or covalent bonds taking place mostly based on the oxidation of proteins or polyphenol by enzymatic or non-enzymatic pathways. Moreover, protein-polyphenol interaction greatly depends on environmental conditions such as temperature and pH as well as on the conformation or type of proteins and polyphenols. The protein-polyphenol conjugates with higher thermal stability, antioxidant activities, better emulsifying properties and enhanced gelling property can be used as novel food additives for improvement of functionalities and quality of food products.

Protein–polyphenol conjugates: Antioxidant property, functionalities and their applications

Application of whey protein isolate and low-methoxy pectin-based fat mimetics in mayonnaise was studied. Fat was partially substituted by different fat mimetics at levels of 50%, respectively, which the fat mimetics were referred to as PFM1 (microparticulate pectin gel), PFM2 (pectin weak-gel), and PFM3 (microparticulated combination of WPI and pectin). The full fat (Ff) (100% oil) mayonnaise without fat mimetic was used as a control experiment. Physicochemical, rheological, texture analysis, and sensory evaluation of the Ff and low fat (Lf) mayonnaises were performed. The results indicated that all Lf mayonnaises had significantly lower energy content, but higher water content than their Ff counterpart. In terms of texture, the formulation with pectin weak-gel as fat mimetic showed similar texture values as those of the Ff sample. Both Ff and Lf mayonnaises exhibited thixothopic shear thinning behaviour under steady shear tests and were rheologically classified as weak gels under small amplitude oscillatory shear tests. Sensory evaluation demonstrated that mayonnaises substituted with low-methoxy pectin were acceptable. This study shows good potential for pectin weak-gel and microparticulated pectin gel to be used as a fat mimetic in mayonnaise.

Rheological, texture and sensory properties of low-fat mayonnaise with different fat mimetics

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02330281/document

Pickering emulsions: Preparation processes, key parameters governing their properties and potential for pharmaceutical applications.

There has been strong interest in developing effective strategies to inhibit lipid oxidation in emulsified food products due to the need to incorporate oxidatively labile bioactive lipids, such as w-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acids, or carotenoids. Emulsifiers or co-emulsifiers can be utilized to inhibit lipid oxidation in emulsions. Both of these molecular types can adsorb to droplet surfaces and inhibit lipid oxidation, but emulsifiers can also stabilize droplets against aggregation whereas co-emulsifiers cannot. There are a host of existing emulsifiers, covalent conjugates, or physical complexes that have the potential to inhibit lipid oxidation by a variety of mechanisms. Existing emulsifiers with antioxidant potential consist of surfactants, phospholipids, proteins, polysaccharides and colloidal particles. Conjugates and complexes are typically formed by covalently or physically linking together a surface-active molecule with an antioxidant molecule. This article, reviews the molecular and ph...

Interfacial Antioxidants: A Review of Natural and Synthetic Emulsifiers and Coemulsifiers That Can Inhibit Lipid Oxidation.

Hybrid liposomes composed of hydrophilic emulsifiers and lecithin: Physicochemical, interaction and curcumin loading properties

The poor freeze-thaw stability of konjac glucomannan (KG) hydrogel will greatly affect its application in the frozen prepared foods. In this study, the filling effects of natural tapioca starch (TS) and corn starch (CS) on the properties of freeze-thaw KG hydrogel were evaluated. The addition of starches significantly improved the gel strength and water holding capacity and inhibited the freeze-induced syneresis of composite hydrogels, where CS is superior to TS. These beneficial effects could be the results of concurrent effects of the decrease of frequency dependence/freezing point, the formation of dense microstructure and the reinforced hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions of composite hydrogels. The foregoing results suggested the potential feasibility of low-cost natural starches to improve the textural properties and freeze-thaw stability of KG hydrogels. 

Cuihua Chang

Papers

Hybrid liposomes composed of hydrophilic emulsifiers and lecithin: Physicochemical, interaction and curcumin loading properties

Freeze-thaw stability of konjac glucomannan hydrogels supplemented with natural tapioca/corn starch

Lutein-Loaded Emulsions Stabilized by Egg White Protein-Dextran-Catechin Conjugates: Cytotoxicity, Stability, and Bioaccessibility

Thermal gelation and digestion properties of hen egg white: Study on the effect of neutral and alkaline salts addition.

Effects of surfactants on activity and structure of egg yolk antibody