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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #401117

Research Project: Increasing Food Shelf-Life, Reducing Food Waste, and Lowering Saturated Fats with Natural Antioxidants and Oleogels

Location: Functional Foods Research

Title: Wax-based oleogels

Author
item Hwang, Hong-Sik
item Moser, Jill

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2023
Publication Date: 2/11/2024
Citation: Hwang, H., Moser, J.K. 2024. Wax-based oleogels. In Advances in Oleogel Development, Characterization, and Nutritional Aspects. Book Chapter. Camila Palla and Fabio Valopppi, Eds. Springer Nature, Switzerland. Ch. 6 pp. 133-155. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46831-5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46831-5

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Oleogels (or organogels), which are made with vegetable oils or fish oils and have similar physical properties to conventional solid fats with highly saturated fats, can be incorporated in a variety of foods in place of conventional fats to promote the health benefits of unsaturated fatty acids. Wax-based oleogels (wax oleogels) have some advantages over other kinds of oleogels including low critical gelation concentration, high gel strength, high physical and oxidative stability during storage, relatively low effects on the sensory properties of foods, and potential additional health benefits of waxes. Waxes form a dense network of platelet crystals where oil is entrapped. The wax crystal networks are more dense with faster cooling rates and larger amount of wax, which results in higher gel strength. Overall properties of wax oleogels indicate their high potential as alternatives to solid fats rich in saturated fatty acids in food products. This chapter summarizes the recent advances in wax oleogels focusing on the effects of wax types, oils, and polar compounds in oil on the oleogel properties as well as the sensory and other properties of recently developed oleogel-containing food products compared to those with conventional fats.