LAUSR

In this research, structured lipids (SLs) containing 78% of long‐chain fatty acids (FAs) at sn‐2 position and medium chain FAs at sn‐1,3 positions were encapsulated by complex coacervation method using gelatin and gum Arabic as wall materials in order to obtain protein–carbohydrate complexes. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of experimental parameters such as wall material concentration (1–2%), core : wall ratio (1:1 and 2:1) and homogenization rate (7,400, 10,000, and 15,000 rpm) on encapsulation process of the SL. The highest microencapsulation efficiency (84.11 ± 0.77%) was obtained in gelatin 2% (w/v), gum arabic 2% (w/v), 1:1 core : wall ratio (w/w), and at 15,000 rpm homogenization rate. In addition, particle size for the coacervates ranged from 19 to 263 nm. Moreover, the samples had smaller polydispersity index (PDI) values, which mean that they showed homogeneous size distribution pattern. Besides, morphological characteristics and thermal behavior of the capsules were determined via scanning electron microscope (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Structured lipids (SLs) with medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs, C6‐C10) at sn‐1 and sn‐3 positions, and long chain fatty acids (LCFAs, C12‐C24) at sn‐2 position has gained attention for food, nutritional and clinical purposes. These SLs are generally designed for special health requirements and meet the daily requirements of fatty acids, especially the long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs) for their health‐enhancing and disease‐preventing properties. The addition of LCPUFAs into the product formulation may lead an increase in the stability problems of these fatty acids, thus appropriate technologies such as encapsulation of lipids should be implemented. Encapsulation technology enables SLs to be protected from possible detrimental effects of food processing and storage conditions. The use of encapsulation technology in conjunction with SL production are evolving and ongoing issues, hence there is only few studies in the literature that considered encapsulation of SLs.