Milk Protein-Stabilized Emulsion Delivery System and Its Application to Foods

Abstract

Milk proteins, such as casein and whey protein, exhibit significant potential as natural emulsifiers for the preparation and stabilization of emulsion-based delivery systems. This can be attributed to their unique functional properties, such as the amphiphilic nature, GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status, high nutritional value, and viscoelastic film-forming ability around oil droplets. In addition, milk protein has been used as a coating material in emulsion-based delivery systems to protect bioactive compounds during food processing and storage owing to its unique functional properties. These properties include the ability to bind lipophilic bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. In this review, we present the use of milk proteins as emulsifiers for the formation of emulsions and food applications of milk protein-stabilized emulsion delivery systems.