Fish oil emulsions stabilized by enzymatic hydrolysis, glycation, and fibrillation of β-Lg: Stability and EPA/DHA bioaccessibility

Qingchun Zhang; Hao Zhu; Rui Wang; Jianfei He; Christos Ritzoulis; Weilin Liu; Wei Tang; Jianhua Liu

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.142550

Fish oil emulsions stabilized by enzymatic hydrolysis, glycation, and fibrillation of β-Lg: Stability and EPA/DHA bioaccessibility

Food Chem. 2024 Dec 18:469:142550. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.142550. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Qingchun Zhang¹, Hao Zhu¹, Rui Wang¹, Jianfei He¹, Christos Ritzoulis², Weilin Liu³, Wei Tang¹, Jianhua Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Food Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, PR China.
² Department of Food Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, Alexander Campus, Thessaloniki, 57400, Greece.
³ School of Food Science and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310018, PR China.
⁴ College of Food Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, PR China. Electronic address: jhliu@zjut.edu.cn.

PMID: 39709919
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.142550

Abstract

This study investigated the stabilization mechanism, storage stability, and in vitro digestion characteristics of oil-in-water fish oil emulsions stabilized by β-Lg modified through enzymatic hydrolysis, glycation, and fibrillation. The stabilization mechanism was elucidated by comparing droplet size, ζ-potential, interfacial protein thickness, and microstructure. Results showed that β-Lg modified through these combined processes formed a three-dimensional network, providing superior stabilization, while other modified proteins stabilized emulsions via surface adsorption. Emulsion stabilized by combined modified β-Lg maintained z-average particle sizes below 550 nm, delayed the peroxide value peak by 3 days, reduced TBARS content by 0.5 μg/mL, and remained unstratified for up to 50 days. During simulated in vitro digestion, emulsions exhibited greater stability in the gastric phase but destabilized in the intestinal phase, leading to 10.46 % higher EPA/DHA bioaccessibility than those emulsions stabilized by untreated β-Lg.

Keywords: Emulsion; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Fibril; Glycation; In vitro digestion; Storage stability.