In vitro gastrointestinal digestibility of corn oil-in-water Pickering emulsions stabilized by three types of nanocellulose

The effect of three nanocellulose (various in crystalline allomorph and morphology) on lipid in vitro gastrointestinal digestibility was investigated. Corn oil-in-water emulsions were prepared by CNCs-I, CNCs-II and CNFs respectively. The variations of droplets diameter D[4,3], zeta potential, and microstructure were measured during gastrointestinal digestion (mouth, stomach and small intestine), and the free fatty acid (FFA) released in the small intestine phase were examined. The FFA-released test results indicated that both crystalline allomorph and morphology of nanocellulose affected the degree of lipid digestion, especially the morphology. FFA released amount was ranked in the order of CNCs-I (56.60%), CNCs-II (48.67%) and CNFs (28.21%). This is mainly due to the difference in the self-assembly behavior of nanocellulose at the interface. Our findings provide an innovative solution that using nanocellulose as food-grade particle stabilizer to modulate the digestion of Pickering emulsified lipids, which would benefit the development of given functional foods.