Recent advances in fabrication of edible polymer oleogels for food applications

Edible oleogels are lipid-based solid-like materials composed of a large amount of oil structured by oleogelators to form a three-dimensional network, which have shown promising applications in food industry as saturated and hydrogenated fat substitutes. In this review, recent literatures on the edible oleogels fabricated from polymer gelators (e.g. proteins and polysaccharides) for food applications have been summarized. Common indirect approaches for oil structuring are introduced, including emulsion-templated, foam-templated, and solvent-exchange methods. The possible gelation mechanisms of typical protein- and polysaccharide-based oleogels have been described, and the food applications of polymer oleogels as functional healthy solid fat replacers are discussed. Finally, an outlook for the development of food oleogel systems in future researches is proposed.