Accumulating evidence has suggested that medium-, long-, and medium-chain (MLM) structured lipids have anti-obesity effects, but whether they can alleviate the development of atherosclerosis (AS) and affect the composition of the gut microbiota in high-fat diet-fed ApoE^−/− mice has not been elucidated. The present study found that MLM structured lipid supplementation could significantly decrease obesity-related parameters compared with high-fat diet alone in ApoE^−/− mice. Additionally, MLM structured lipids could significantly decrease the blood glucose and increase the serum total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels. Additionally, high-dose MLM structured lipids supplementation could reduce the area of atherosclerotic lesions and decrease the expression of VCAM-1, MCP-1 and CD68, which are related to inflammation in aortic tissue. Further analysis showed that MLM structured lipids could significantly reduce lipid accumulation in the adipose tissue of high-fat diet-fed ApoE^−/− mice. The relative protein expression of SREBP-1, ACC, FAS, C/EBPα and PPARγ was decreased and the ratio of p-AMPK/AMPK was increased in epididymis white adipose tissue (eWAT) after MLM structured lipids treatment. Additionally, MLM structured lipids supplementation regulated the bacterial composition, including reducing the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, increasing the relative abundance of short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria (Blautia and Anaerotruncus), decreasing the relative abundance of [Ruminococcus] torques group, Ruminiclostridium 9, Catenibacterium and [Eubacterium] fissicatena group. Spearman's correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between changes in the gut microbiota and atherosclerosis-related indices. The results demonstrated that the alleviating effects of MLM structured lipids supplementation on AS in high-fat diet-fed ApoE^−/− mice were closely related to reshaping the composition of the gut microbiota.

In this study, the stable system of bilayer emulsion was fabricated by ultrasonic emulsification. The effect of chitosan (CS) addition (0.05 %-0.4 %, w/v) at pH 5.0 on the stability of rice bran protein hydrolysate-ferulic acid (RBPH-FA) monolayer emulsion was investigated. It was found that the addition of CS (0.3 %) could form a stable bilayer emulsion. The droplet size was 3.38 μm and the absolute ζ-potential value was 31.52 mV. The bilayer emulsion had better storage stability, oxidation stability and environmental stabilities than the monolayer emulsion. The results of in vitro simulations revealed the bilayer emulsion was able to deliver the β-carotene to the small intestine digestive stage stably and the bioaccessibility was increased from 22.34 % to 61.36 % compared with the monolayer emulsion. The research confirmed that the bilayer emulsion prepared by ultrasonic emulsification can be used for the delivery of hydrophobic functional component β-carotene.

• O/W emulsion was fabricated by RBPH-FA covalent conjugate. • HIU treatment improved the stability of RBPH-FA covalent conjugate emulsion. • Emulsion at 300 W was more stable than other samples. • Over HIU treatment (450 W, 600 W) had negative effect on stability of emulsion.

The influence of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment at 150, 300, 450, and 600 MPa for 25 min on the physicochemical properties, structural properties, and in vitro digestibility of pea starch was studied. Compared to native and pea starch treated at 150–450 MPa, the morphology of pea starch at 600 MPa was completely destroyed and the particle size became larger, indicating complete gelatinization. The X‐ray diffraction results showed that the native pea starch was gradually changed from the C‐type into the B‐type pattern after 150–600 MPa HHP treatment. At 30–70°C, pea starch treated at 600 MPa had a higher water absorption index (p < 0.05), swelling power, and solubility than other samples did, but opposite results were obtained at 90°C. The rapid visco analyzer (RVA) results indicated that pea starch treated with high pressure at 600 MPa showed lower values of peak viscosity, trough, breakdown, final viscosity, and setback (p < 0.05), reflecting lower retrogradation. Gelatinization temperatures and enthalpy determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) decreased with the increase of pressure. Furthermore, the in vitro digestibility of HHP treated pea starches was lower than that of native pea starch (p < 0.05). Therefore, it is an effective method for HHP treatment to modify the properties of pea starches.

Rice bran protein (RBP) hydrolysis was conducted after high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) pretreatment. The structural and functional properties of HHP-pretreated rice bran protein hydrolysates (RBPH) were investigated. HHP pretreatments were conducted at 100, 200, and 300 MPa; then, enzymatic hydrolysis at atmospheric pressure was performed using trypsin. An RBPH sample that had not been pretreated by HHP was used as a control. Free sulfhydryl (SH) content, SDS-PAGE profiles, high-performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), intrinsic fluorescence spectrum, solubility, and emulsifying and foaming properties were evaluated. Changes in particle size and ζ-potential were monitored. Compared with the control, the results of solubility, the emulsifying activity index (EAI) and the emulsifying stability index (ESI) increased significantly (p < 0.05) at 200 MPa. The content of free SH increased significantly (p < 0.05) at 100 MPa. FTIR spectrum and fluorescence analysis confirmed the changes in the secondary and tertiary structures. The experimental results indicated that the structural and functional properties of HHP-pretreated RBPH improved.