New paper published in Food Hydrocolloids on novel digestive properties of emulsion microgel particles

New paper published in Food Hydrocolloids on alternation of lipid digestion using emulsion microgel particles. Findings from this study suggest that during in vitro gastric digestion, whey protein-stabilized emulsions flocculated and coalesced due to pepsinolysis of the adsorbed protein layer. This gastric destabilisation led to uncontrolled and limited release of free fatty acids (44% FFA) during subsequent intestinal digestion, largely due to the reduction in interfacial area. In comparison, emulsion microgel particles were noticeably more stable during in vitro gastric digestion. The protection of emulsion droplets against gastric coalescence in emulsion microgel particles was controlled by physicochemical interactions between calcium ions and whey protein in the particles, limiting both pepsin-diffusion and cleavage at the pepsin active site. Under subsequent in vitro intestinal digestion, the microgel particles degraded due to the action of intestinal proteases, releasing fine emulsion droplets, which then gave significantly higher release of free fatty acids (54% FFA).

Read the paper in Food Hydrocolloids, Volume 89, Pages 523-533.