Recent progress in fish oil-based emulsions by various food-grade stabilizers: Fabrication strategy, interfacial stability mechanism and potential application

Abstract

Fish oil, rich in a variety of long-chain ω-3 PUFAs, is widely used in fortified foods due to its broad-spectrum health benefits. However, its undesired characteristics include oxidation sensitivity, poor water solubility, and fishy off-flavor greatly hinder its exploitation in food field. Over the past two decades, constructing fish oil emulsions to encapsulate ω-3 PUFAs for improving their physicochemical and functional properties has undergone great progress. This review mainly focuses on understanding the fabrication strategies, stabilization mechanism, and potential applications of fish oil emulsions, including fish oil microemulsions, nanoemulsions, double emulsions, Pickering emulsions and emulsion gels. Furthermore, the role of oil-water interfacial stabilizers in the fish oil emulsions stability will be discussed with a highlight on food-grade single emulsifiers and natural complex systems for achieving this purpose. Additionally, its roles and applications in food industry and nutrition field are delineated. Finally, possible innovative food trends and applications are highlighted, such as novel fish oil-based delivery systems construction (e.g., Janus emulsions and nutraceutical co-delivery systems), exploring digestion and absorption mechanisms and enhancing functional evaluation (e.g., nutritional supplement enhancer, and novel fortified/functional foods). This review provides a reference for the application of fish oil-based emulsion systems in future precision diet intervention implementations.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Fish oil emulsions
• ω-3 PUFAs
• stabilization mechanism
• interfacial stabilizer
• nutritional supplement enhancer
• fortified foods

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Guobin Xia of Baylor College of Medicine for his valuable advice on drafting and writing this review.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for the grant provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 32172242], the Zhejiang Province Public Welfare Technology Application Research Project-National Cooperation Project [grant number LGJ21C20001], and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number LD21C200001].