Recent Advances in Lipid Delivery Systems for Food Applications

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 943

Special Issue Editor

School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, No. 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China
Interests: lipid nutrition; food emulsion; chocolate; specialty fats; diacylglycerol; medium and long chain triacylglycerol
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lipid delivery plays an indispensable role in advancing functional foods by improving solubility, stability, and bioavailability of fat-soluble nutrients, e.g., ethyl esters of polyunsaturated fatty acids, lutein esters, sterol esters, polyphenols, vitamin A, and vitamin D. By modulating the physicochemical properties of the ingredients, these delivery systems enable precise targeting of active components to specific physiological sites, thereby enhancing their therapeutic efficacy and expanding the formulation versatility of functional food products. Therefore, various lipid delivery systems, mainly emulsions, nanoemulsions, liposomes, and solid lipid nanoparticles, represent an ideal strategy for achieving precise nutritional support. Significant improvements in antioxidant capacities can also be achieved through oil–water interface design and composition optimization. Emulsion stability evaluation methods, rheological monitoring techniques, and sensory attributes are equally crucial, serving as key factors to ensure shelf-life stability and application performance of the lipid delivery systems. Such systems could be applied in fortified functional foods, especially infant formula, elderly nutrition, metabolic health products, and medical foods, providing nutritional support for the specific needs of chronic disease patients and populations with special physiological requirements. This Special Issue is dedicated to investigating the construction of lipid delivery systems and their stability, optimizing the efficiency of fat-soluble nutrient delivery, and exploring their practical applications in nutritional support.

Dr. Jun Jin
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • lipid delivery
  • fat-soluble nutrient
  • bioaccessibility
  • functional foods
  • foods for special medical purposes

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 3510 KB  
Article
Effects of Oil Properties on Stability Behavior of High-Energy-Density Fat Emulsions
by Xianmin Xu, Wei Zeng, Meijun Du, Abdelaziz Elbarbary, Jun Jin and Xingguo Wang
Foods 2026, 15(4), 621; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods15040621 - 9 Feb 2026
Viewed by 575
Abstract
Foods for special medical purposes play a critical role in clinical nutritional support, especially oil-in-water emulsions characterized as having high energy density, which could provide efficient energy for patients with insufficient intake or those requiring fluid restriction. The included oil types are the [...] Read more.
Foods for special medical purposes play a critical role in clinical nutritional support, especially oil-in-water emulsions characterized as having high energy density, which could provide efficient energy for patients with insufficient intake or those requiring fluid restriction. The included oil types are the critical determinants of emulsion stability, which, in turn, governs digestive behavior, absorption efficiency, and ultimate bioavailability of the delivered nutrients. However, such emulsions face stability challenges during storage and application. In the present study, high-energy-density fat emulsions formulated with six typical oils, which contained 50% oil content, were prepared and systematically analyzed in terms of their particle size, zeta potential, microstructure, centrifugal stability, multiple light scattering, and rheological properties. The results indicated that oils with medium-chain fatty acids, due to their compact molecular structure and low viscosity, facilitated the formation of finer droplets and promoted the orderly arrangement of phospholipids at the interface of the emulsion system, leading to the formation of a dense, elastic interfacial layer and a gel network structure. Its marked shear-thinning characteristic and lowest frequency dependence contributed to desirable processing and storage stabilities. In contrast, long-chain triacylglycerols, especially those enriched with monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids, tended to form rigid but insufficiently elastic interfacial layers, which were unfavorable for resisting coalescence and phase separation induced by external forces. Highly unsaturated oils, on the contrary, exhibited medium levels for emulsion stability. Further analysis of the relationship between the physicochemical properties of oils and the characteristics of emulsions revealed that fatty acid species in the oil phase were the key determinants of emulsification behavior. It was therefore speculated that oils rich in medium-chain fatty acids with a moderate degree of unsaturation, especially including selected ω-3 and ω-6 fatty acids, could improve emulsion stability and fatty acid balance synchronously. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical support for the formulation design and stability control of high-energy-density fat emulsions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Lipid Delivery Systems for Food Applications)
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