Pickering emulsions co-stabilized by protein nanoparticles and bioactive compound crystals: tailoring the behaviour towards in vitro digestibility

Abstract

Emulsions are widely used for a number of soft matter applications such as in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food products. Chemically-synthesized surfactants have been used by food and non-food industries to create metastable emulsion-based products. However, emulsions remain as a particular challenge in colloid science perspective when dealing with the use of natural emulsifiers. In addition to the long-term stability, food industry has been pursuit the vehiculation of bioactive ingredients in emulsion-based systems promoting an extra appeal in nutritional domain. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in Pickering emulsions because of the recognition of the unique high steric stabilization provided by particles at interfaces, opening the opportunity of using natural particles as stabilizers. The main expectation of this research is to design emulsion-based food structures exploring a combined approach of ingredients that play both nutritional and technological roles. (AU)