Characterization of crystalline, self-structuring oleogels for food and pharmaceutical applications

53% of the EU population is overweight or obese, creating an unsustainable burden on national sanitary systems. Overconsumption of fats, particularly saturated ones, is one of the main causes of obesity; hence promoting diets that are lower in fats is essential. One strategy could be the reformulation of fatty foods with a lower amount of both saturated and total fats. However, this is challenging as fats provide characteristic functional properties that are hard to replicate with different ingredients. The use of oleogels to replace pure fats is a valuable option to solve this task. Oleogels are materials with a reduced content of saturated fatty acids, achieved via the structuring of a liquid oil with a gelator agent. With this project we will develop novel manufacturing processes for the production of crystalline oleogels made from sustainable liquid oils, without using hydrogenated fatty acids or expensive gelling agents.