Potential utilization of emulsion gels and multiple emulsions as delivery systems to produce healthier meat products

In recent years the increase in consumers’ demands for healthy food have accelerated the studies searching for innovative approaches in meat product formulations. Developing a healthier lipid profile and reducing fat are the most important goals in the meat industry. One of the main problems of animal fat replacement with plant oils is maintaining the technological and sensory properties of the products. Pre-emulsions provide a great opportunity to carry the healthier plant oils to meat systems for increasing mono and polyunsaturated fatty acid content, since adding liquid plant oils directly to product formulation can have technological and sensory problems. Using emulsion gels and multiple emulsions prepared with polyunsaturated oils could be a good option to achieve healthier meat products. This review addresses the emulsion gel and multiple emulsion properties and their use in meat products as fat replacers.

An Overview on Multiple Emulsions

Multiple emulsions are dynamic hetero-dispersed structures in which water concurrently occurs water in oil and oil in water emulsion both controlled by lipophillic and hydrophilic surfactants. The combination of all such surfactants is useful in stabilizing multiple emulsions. Multiple emulsions include water-in-oil-in-water (w / o / w) and oil-in-water-in-oil (o / w / o) type; the former has extensive formulation, preparation techniques, and multiple-emulsion in-vitro analysis methods are checked. With specific reference to multiple emulsions of the w / o / w, different factors influencing the stability of multiple emulsions and stabilize strategies are discussed in detail. It finds wide range of applications in Multiple emulsions in cancer therapy, Multiple emulsions in herbal medicines, Vaccine / adjuvant, Oxygen replacement, Inverse targeting, Multiple diabetes emulsions, Multiple emulsions in food, Drug over doses treatment, etc. In the course of such microencapsulation a few emulsions were also used as an intermediate step in the process of such microencapsulation and are the structures of growing interest in the oral delivery of hydrophilic drugs that become unstable in gastrointestinal tracts such as proteins and peptides. Stability a with developing preparation methods, drug release tests, in vitro release studies, globule size or particle size, stability and rheological characterization of multiple emulsions, will be able to provide a novel carrier mechanism for medicines, cosmetics and pharmaceutical agents.

Improvement of Ferulic Acid Antioxidant Activity by Multiple Emulsions: In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation

Ferulic acid is a derivative of cinnamic acid showing efficacious anti-oxidant activity. It catalyzes the stable phenoxy radical formation, upon absorption of ultraviolet light, giving the strength to ferulic acid for terminating free radical chain reactions. Ultraviolet rays are one of the most dangerous factors that daily assault the skin, causing excessive generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are regarded to be important contributors to a variety of cutaneous alterations. The skin possesses endogenous antioxidant defense systems, but the excess of ROS leads to an oxidant–antioxidant imbalance. Although ferulic acid is daily introduced in human organism with the diet, its bioavailability after oral administration is poor, particularly in the skin. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate three types of emulsions (W/O/W multiple emulsions and two simple emulsions) as suitable formulations for topical application of the active compound. In vitro studies were performed to investigate the stability and release profiles of these systems. Multiple emulsions showed great stability and the best ability to carry and release ferulic acid. In vivo evaluations highlighted their best capability to treat UV-B-induced erythema. These findings suggested multiple emulsions as an innovative and more efficient vehicle for topical application of ferulic acid.