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The effects of interfacial structure on lipolysis for processed food emulsions

Reference	BBS/E/F/00042512
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Victor Morris
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Peter Wilde
Institution	Quadram Institute Bioscience
Department	Quadram Institute Bioscience Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	136,700
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/08/2008
End date	31/07/2011
Duration	36 months

Abstract

Obesity is a problem of growing concern. NHS costs are approx. 3.3-3.7 billion pa. Obesity is the second largest cause of cancer after smoking. An approach to reducing obesity is to reduce dietary fat intake. Industry has developed successful low-fat and reduced-fat products acceptable to consumers but their impact is impaired due to over consumption. An alternative strategy would be to reduce the rate of fat digestion on consumption of food. Delaying fat digestion can initiate signals that suppress appetite, induce satiety and reduce further consumption of foods. Processed foods with high fat contents are prepared as emulsions: liquid fat is processed into small droplets stabilised by added proteins. Novel imaging methods at IFR have shown that the proteins form an elastic skin around the droplets stabilising the emulsion. A source of instability in food products is the presence of small molecules (surfactants) which seek to displace the proteins and colonise the surface of the droplets. Research at IFR has shown that, because the proteins form a network or skin on the droplet they resist displacement. We have shown that the mechanical strength of the 'skin' determines how effectively they can resist displacement. There is no published information on the effects of the conditions within the stomach and small intestine on the stability of protein networks on consumption of processed foods. In the small intestine, for the fat to be digested, the body secretes small surfactant-like molecules (bile salts - biosurfactants) which adsorb on the surface of the fat droplets. These molecules anchor lipases which process fats. Feasibility work at IFR has shown that the protein networks can be displaced by bile salts. The aim of the proposal is to generate protein networks that can partially resist displacement by bile salts or other biosurfactants secreted by the body by using food-grade enzymes to cross-link the networks. Strengthening the network should ensure passage through the stomach and, in the small intestine, the strengthened network should restrict adsorption of bile salts. This should reduce adsorption of the lipases and reduce the rate of digestion of the fat. The ultimate aim is to suppress appetite. This could be used to cut down consumption of fats in high-fat processed foods or to inhibit over-consumption of reduced-fat foods.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Biochemistry & Cell Biology (BCB)
Research Topics	Diet and Health
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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