Structure and oxidative stability of oil in water emulsions as affected by rutin and homogenization procedure

The structural properties of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions, as well as their oxidative stability upon storage at 50 °C, were studied. Eight different formulations were prepared, with the aim of studying the effect of three variables: the composition of the oil phase, the presence of the flavonoid rutin and the homogenization procedure on the structure and the oxidative stability. It was found that high pressure homogenization, through droplet size reduction, stabilized the emulsions both against creaming and oil oxidation. The interfacial protein was also partially replaced by rutin, further improving the stability of the emulsions, whereas purification of the oil phase had hardly any effect. Thus, the structural and oxidative stability of emulsions was controlled by the size of the droplets and improved by the addition of rutin.