Impact of different animal and plant proteins on the structure, rheology and texture of nanocellulose composite oleogels

Zhu, Yubo

FOOD HYDROCOLLOIDS

2026

178

Tian, Y; Li, XF;Luo, J

The collaboration of nanofibrillar cellulose (CNF) with food proteins provides new strategy for constructing highperformance oleogels. However, the role of protein chemistry and structure on this construction still requires exploring. Here, the emulsification characteristics and oleogel formation of CNF composite systems with walnut protein isolate (WPI), soybean protein isolate (SPI), whey protein (WP), casein (Cas) and gelatin (Gel) were investigated by emulsion-templated method combined with hot-air drying. The results showed that the hydrophobicity, gel-forming ability and molecular size of proteins greatly affected the stability and structural strength of oleogels. Bulky but moderately hydrophobic WPI and SPI molecules restricted the distribution of CNF in oil droplet, and thus enhanced the packaging role of CNF in oleogels with strong oil bonding capacity (OBC) and high colloidal strength. However, Gel with stronger hydrophilicity mainly served as a thickener to protect CNFstabilized oil droplets from coalescence, and thereby also contributed to stable oleogel structure with comparable OBC and gel strength but higher viscosity. This practice indicates the feasibility of preparing oleogels with similar texture strength but significant differences in viscoelasticity, flow behavior and temperature response by choosing different food proteins, which provides new ideas for the development of food colloids with potential applications.