Antiplasticization and phase behavior in phase-separated modified starch-sucrose blends: A positron lifetime and solid-state NMR study.

Interactions, organization and dynamics within phase-separated ternary blends of hydrophobically modified starch (HMS), sucrose and water are investigated using solid-state NMR and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). Antiplasticization of HMS by sucrose is demonstrated by PALS and 1H NMR T1 measurements. Selective solid-state 13C NMR experiments show that a large fraction of sucrose is in molecular contact with HMS even at high sucrose contents, indicating that the HMS-sucrose phase separation is only partial. Sucrose is observed to migrate away from the HMS-rich domains at temperatures that are above the lower Tg, but still below the upper Tg. 1H spin diffusion experiments indicate that phase separation occurs on a nanometric scale, in line with recent theory (Van der Sman, Food Hydrocolloids87, 360-370 (2019)). We infer that the nanoscale structure of the HMS-rich phase allows for intimate molecular contact between the HMS-rich and the sucrose-rich phases and explains the unusual dynamic behavior.

Influence of spray drying on the stability of food-grade solid lipid nanoparticles.

This study investigated spray drying of food-grade solid lipid particles (SLN) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) containing ω-3 fish oil. Stable SLN and NLC dispersions with tristearin as carrier lipid were formed by using a combination of Quillaja saponins and high-melting lecithin as emulsifiers. Our specific goal was to study the influence of four different spray drying inlet and outlet temperatures (Tinlet/outlet = 140-170 °C/65-95 °C) and two different maltodextrin types (DE 6 and DE 21) with different molecular weights as protective wall materials on the physical and polymorphic stability of the solid lipid particles. The results revealed that the low molecular weight maltodextrin DE 21 was a superior wall material in stabilizing the solid lipid particles. Moreover, the lipid particles spray dried at Tinlet/outlet of 140/65 °C exhibited the highest physical and polymorphic stability, whereas using higher Tinlet/outlet led to bigger particles which were more prone to polymorphic transition. This was also verified in a 71-day storage test. The findings were explained that by preventing the melting of the tristearin carrier lipid during spray drying, the crystallized lipid particles remained intact inside the amorphous maltodextrin layer and exhibited high physical and polymorphic stability. These findings are important for generating stable food-grade spray dried powders.

Concentration effect of Quillaja saponin - Co-surfactant mixtures on emulsifying properties.

HYPOTHESIS: This study examined the emulsifying properties of mixed surfactant systems of Quillaja saponins and food-grade co-surfactants (Na-caseinate, pea protein, rapeseed lecithin, and egg lecithin). We hypothesized to these mixtures may build mixed adsorption layers and thus enhance emulsion stabilization. EXPERIMENTS: Oil-in-water emulsions (10%, pH 7) were prepared with different concentrations of co-surfactants (0.1-5.0%) alone or mixed with Quillaja saponins (0.05 or 0.5%). Dynamic interfacial tension measurements were performed to characterize the behavior of the surfactants at an oil-water interface. FINDINGS: Low Quillaja saponin concentrations led to either no changes or substantial increases in particle sizes of protein stabilized emulsions, but d43-values decreased in lecithin stabilized emulsions at low lecithin concentrations. The dominating effect of Quillaja saponins at high concentrations led to formation of small droplets (d43≤2 µm) in all emulsions, except with 2.5% pea proteins. All co-surfactants showed synergistic or additive effects with respect to interfacial tension reductions upon addition of Quillaja saponins (except for egg lecithin with 0.005% Quillaja saponin addition). The results indicated a competing effect for saponin-protein interfaces, but formation of mixed saponin-lecithin interfaces, thus showing that the emulsion stabilization and interfacial properties can be tuned by specific binary surfactant mixtures.