Abstract
The food industry has a considerable demand for functional foods, such as emulsions as delivery system for omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Such delivery systems must be stabilized, ideally with a compound that fulfills the criteria for both functionality and sustainability. Spruce galactoglucomannans (GGM) are novel, wood-derived, natural, value-added, versatile, multi-purpose emulsifiers that can physically stabilize oil-in-water emulsions while simultaneously protecting the oil phase against oxidation. In this study, we present for the first time the use of GGM-stabilized emulsions as complex multicomponent delivery systems for omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, i.e., (1) cod liver oil in drinkable yogurt and (2) oat oil in a gluten-free vegan beverage. The emulsions and the resulting functionalized beverages were characterized in terms of their physical stabilities. In addition, functionalized, drinkable yogurt was characterized in terms of the oxidative stability of the oil. Results highlighted that oil droplets stabilized with GGM were stable during storage, against thermal treatment, upon addition into the beverages, and GGM protected cod liver oil against oxidation in drinkable yogurt. The results reported here highlight the vast potential for the use of wood lignocellulose-derived, multi-functional hydrocolloids in modern foods.
Highlights
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Functional foods are a class of foodstuffs that has proven health benefits when consumed on a regular basis
The first example of product functionalization was on drinkable yogurt using an emulsion stabilized by GGM highly loaded with omega-6 and omega-3 rich oil
Drinkable yogurt is a food product that is consumed worldwide, and, currently, it is used as a target food for functionalization [8]
Summary
Functional foods are a class of foodstuffs that has proven health benefits when consumed on a regular basis. They reduce the risk of specific chronic diseases and improve consumers’ physical or mental well-being [1, 2]. This class of foods has been recognized as one of the most innovative areas of research in the food industry [3]. The global market for functional foods was valued $168 billion in 2013 and is expected to be worth more than $300 billion in 2020 [4]
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