fine tuning structure formation with oil droplets in gel matrices using competing destabilizing mechanisms.

众所周知，更好地了解食品基质中存在的结构层次结构对于保质期和消费者对食品的接受度具有重要意义。然而，直到最近，才有证据表明，更好的食物结构设计对于制定更健康的产品、优化风味释放也很重要，更重要的是，在消化分解期间量身定做生物功能。这些发现代表了我们处理产品开发方式的范式转变，并清楚地指出了推导结构设计原则的必要性。我们建议通过观察模型食品平台中发生的相互作用，深入研究食品基质中结构的形成，这些平台包含生物聚合物网络中的脂肪球。事实上，虽然我们知道如何设计稳定的油滴，或者如何单独控制含有蛋白质或多糖的模型凝胶中结构的形成，但对混合基质中发生的相互作用的了解要少得多，这些反应经历了竞争性的不稳定反应--这通常是食品生产中的情况。在水包油乳状液中，液滴的物理化学性质和加工行为由界面上吸附的组分决定。未吸附的聚合物也将决定结构的特征。例如，可溶相中不相互作用的生物聚合物可能会通过耗尽机制导致相分离；或者，生物聚合物可能会吸附在油滴之间的界面和桥梁上，使液滴成为蛋白质网络的组成部分。虽然系统已经很好地描述了孤立的特征，但对同时发生多个反应时发生的变化的动力学了解要少得多。凝胶过程中相分离的微调可以控制团簇的形成和不同填充凝胶的产生。

It is well established that a better understanding of the structural hierarchies present in food matrices is of great significance in terms of shelf life and consumer's acceptability of food products. However, only recently, it has become evident that better design of food structures is also important to formulate healthier products, optimize flavour release, and more importantly, tailor biological functionality during digestive breakdown. These findings represent a paradigm shift in the way we approach product development and clearly point out the necessity for deriving principles of structure design. We are proposing an in depth study of the formation of structure in food matrices, by looking at the interactions occurring in model food platforms, containing fat globules in biopolymers' networks. Indeed, while we know a great deal on how to design stable oil droplets, or how to control the formation of structure in model gels containing proteins or polysaccharides in isolation, much less is understood of the interactions occurring in mixed matrices undergoing competing destabilizing reactions - and this is usually the case in making food products. In oil-in-water emulsions, the physico-chemical properties and the processing behaviour of the droplets are ruled by the components adsorbed at the interface. The unadsorbed polymers will also determine characteristics of the structure. For example, a non-interacting biopolymer in the soluble phase may cause phase separation by a depletion mechanism; alternatively, biopolymers may adsorb at the interface and bridge between oil droplets, making the droplets integral part of the protein network. While systems have been well characterized in isolation, much less is understood on the dynamics of change occurring when multiple reactions happen at once. Fine-tuning of phase separation during gelation may control the formation of clusters and the creation of differently filled gels.