Modulating the in vitro gastrointestinal digestibility of crystalline oil-in-water emulsion: Different fat crystal sizes and polymorphic forms under the same SFC.

The effects of the fat crystal structure on lipid droplets digestion behaviors were investigated using an in vitro digestion model. The crystalline oil-in-water emulsions containing the same solid fat content (SFC) with different fat crystal sizes and polymorphic forms were fabricated by different storage protocols: constant-temperature and inconstant-temperature storage. Oral and gastric processing led to a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the d4,3 values of the two emulsions, and the two emulsions underwent partial coalescence and flocculation/aggregation. The free fatty acid (FFA) release profiles showed that the lipolysis extent decreased due to a larger crystal size. In addition, the two emulsions showed differences in beta polymorphism. This work further demonstrated that the FFA release could be modulated by the physical properties of the fat.