Leveraging fat structuration for enhanced taste, nutrition, and sustainability

Historically, intake of fats and oils has been targeted for reduction in food products due to health concerns. However, recent understanding emphasizes the essential role of lipids as nutrients that provide energy, essential fatty acids, and vitamins. The food industry faces challenges in developing products that are nutritionally optimal, environmentally sustainable, and sensory-appealing. The World Health Organization recommends reducing the consumption of saturated fatty acids (SFAs). The production of oils rich in SFAs is often linked to ecological concerns, including greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation.

Despite these challenges, SFA-rich oils offer technical advantages in food production, such as being solid and structuring food at room temperature and their resistance to oxidation. This opinion paper analyzes strategies to leverage lipid nutrition by reducing SFAs in food products while preserving sensory attributes. Those include the control of fat crystallization, oleogels (‘gelled’ liquid oils) formation, foams stabilized by lipids, and emulsion gels. A strong emphasis on consumer perception, industrial feasibility, regulatory aspects, cost and sustainability in the food industry is given.