Oleogels for Delivery and Protection of Bioactive Molecules

In the last decade, there has been an increasing interest in the use of oleogels as fat mimetics. But recently, their capability to act as functional ingredients (from a nutritional and health perspective) has gained attention, bringing additional interest from the researchers and industry. While the technological strategies to form a network that could entrap liquid oil are still a fascinating topic in the area, the use of molecules that can bring nutritional health benefits to consumers is a new endeavor that needs to be explored. These molecules can be in the lipid phase (e.g., omega-3 fatty acid), gelators (e.g., phytosterol) or oil-soluble functional compounds (e.g., curcumin and beta-carotene), and besides the nutritional and health aspects, they can also influence the formation of the oleogel structure. In this chapter, we explore the exciting applications of oleogels as a way to deliver bioactive molecules. We discuss the nutritional aspects of the ingredients used to produce the oleogels (lipids and gelators) and other possible compounds of interest that can be incorporated and delivered using oleogels. We discussed the strategies for the incorporation of bioactive compounds and how these can be evaluated. In the end, some examples of applications in food products are presented.