Production of high-oleic palm oil nanoemulsions by high-shear homogenization (microfluidization)

Nanoemulsions present benefits such as an increase in the bioavailability, solubility and targeted delivery of encapsulated substances, and thus, they are a method of incorporating high nutritional value oils, such as high-oleic palm oil (HOPO). In this work, O/W nanoemulsions were obtained by microfluidization using HOPO (1-20% w/w) in the oily phase along with whey (1-20% w/w), Tween 20 (1:1 w/w ratio) and water in the aqueous phase following a surface response design methodology. The response variables were the average drop size (ADS), the polydispersity index (PDI), the zeta potential (ζ), CIELAB color parameters and viscosities of the fresh nanoemulsions (0 days) and nanoemulsions stored at two temperatures (5 and 19 °C) for 4 days. The ADS, PDI and ζ values varied between 163 and 2268 nm, 0.2 and 1, and - 29.7 and - 47.2 mV, respectively. The viscosity was affected by the storage temperature; after 4 days at 19 °C, it increased almost 6-fold compared to the viscosity of the fresh sample. With regards to the color parameters, significant changes were observed based on the concentrations of HOPO and whey. In addition, the prediction equations only presented errors below 7% for the evaluated variables, with R² values above 0.85. Finally, the influence of whey protein denaturation at 60 °C on the stabilities of the two most stable nanoemulsions, according to the optimization process, was observed. Industrial relevance Among its many benefits, nanoencapsulation is characterized by increasing the bioavailability of the encapsulated active compound and by the protection that it grants against environmental and processing effects, as micronutrients (for example vitamins) can be susceptible to chemical, enzymatic and/physical instability prior, during and after the processing of food products that contain. One of the techniques studied in recent decades for obtaining nanoemulsions is microfluidization. Microfluidization is a high-energy method that uses high pressure to force the fluid through microchannels that have a specific configuration, emulsifying the fluid by the combined effects of cavitation, shear and impact, thus showing an excellent emulsifying efficiency. However, in food industries the use of microfluidization is not popular and other kind of high shear homogenization are used. In this work, the development of stable emulsions using microfluidization, calls for the use of other types of materials that can provide emulsifying characteristics, such as whey, a compound that is currently one of the main effluents of dairy processes, depending on the type of product. Obtaining nanoemulsions for encapsulation purposes has been studied in many functional products, but to the best of our knowledge, it has not been reported with high-oleic palm oil. This oil contains approximately 50% saturated, 10% di-unsaturated and 40% monounsaturated fatty acids, with oleic acid in sn-2 position in triacylglycerols. This composition makes palm oil as soluble as olive oil. In addition, high-oleic palm oil (HOPO), in particular, has a high stability because it is an oleic acid-rich oil, which has been introduced to replace trans fats and has presented a healthy alternative to such fats in food formulations and the fried food industry. It is also important to highlight that oleic acid has a range of health benefits, such as a decrease in the total cholesterol, an increase in HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and a decrease in LDL (low-density lipoprotein). Oleic acid also retards the development of heart diseases, promotes the formation of antioxidants in the body and reinforces the integrity of the cell wall. In addition, red palm oil (crude) contributes significant nutritional value because it is rich in β-carotenes, α-tocopherol and tocotorienols, supplying vitamins and provitamins that are important for but not produced by the human body. Finally, this work demonstrates that emulsion drop size does not affect the stability of the nanoemulsion if it formulation is designed. Therefore, the goal of this work was to evaluate the most favorable conditions for the microfluidization, formulation and storage of HOPO nanoemulsions using whey powder to produce stable nanoemulsions.