Jie Yilin, Chen Fusheng
College of Food Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
Foods. 2022 Sep 17;11(18):2883. doi: 10.3390/foods11182883.
The detailed investigation of food-grade emulsions, which possess considerable structural and functional advantages, remains ongoing to enhance our understanding of these dispersion systems and to expand their application scope. This work reviews the applications of food-grade emulsions on the dispersed phase, interface structure, and macroscopic scales; further, it discusses the corresponding factors of influence, the selection and design of food dispersion systems, and the expansion of their application scope. Specifically, applications on the dispersed-phase scale mainly include delivery by soft matter carriers and auxiliary extraction/separation, while applications on the scale of the interface structure involve biphasic systems for enzymatic catalysis and systems that can influence substance digestion/absorption, washing, and disinfection. Future research on these scales should therefore focus on surface-active substances, real interface structure compositions, and the design of interface layers with antioxidant properties. By contrast, applications on the macroscopic scale mainly include the design of soft materials for structured food, in addition to various material applications and other emerging uses. In this case, future research should focus on the interactions between emulsion systems and food ingredients, the effects of food process engineering, safety, nutrition, and metabolism. Considering the ongoing research in this field, we believe that this review will be useful for researchers aiming to explore the applications of food-grade emulsions.
食品级乳液具有显著的结构和功能优势，对其进行的详细研究仍在继续，以增进我们对这些分散体系的理解，并扩大其应用范围。本文综述了食品级乳液在分散相、界面结构和宏观尺度上的应用；此外，还讨论了相应的影响因素、食品分散体系的选择与设计及其应用范围的拓展。具体而言，分散相尺度上的应用主要包括软物质载体递送和辅助提取/分离，而界面结构尺度上的应用涉及用于酶催化的双相体系以及能够影响物质消化/吸收、洗涤和消毒的体系。因此，未来在这些尺度上的研究应聚焦于表面活性物质、实际界面结构组成以及具有抗氧化性能的界面层设计。相比之下，宏观尺度上的应用主要包括结构化食品的软材料设计，以及各种材料应用和其他新兴用途。在这种情况下，未来的研究应关注乳液体系与食品成分之间的相互作用、食品加工工程的影响、安全性、营养和代谢。鉴于该领域正在进行的研究，我们相信这篇综述将对旨在探索食品级乳液应用的研究人员有所帮助。
