Colloids in Food: Ingredients, Structure, and Stability

Abstract

This article reviews progress in the field of food colloids with particular emphasis on advances in novel functional ingredients and nanoscale structuring. Specific aspects of ingredient development described here are the stabilization of bubbles and foams by the protein hydrophobin, the emulsifying characteristics of Maillard-type protein–polysaccharide conjugates, the structural and functional properties of protein fibrils, and the Pickering stabilization of dispersed droplets by food-grade nanoparticles and microparticles. Building on advances in the nanoscience of biological materials, the application of structural design principles to the fabrication of edible colloids is leading to progress in the fabrication of functional dispersed systems—multilayer interfaces, multiple emulsions, and gel-like emulsions. The associated physicochemical insight is contributing to our mechanistic understanding of oral processing and textural perception of food systems and to the development of colloid-based strategies to control delivery of nutrients during food digestion within the human gastrointestinal tract.