The Colloidal State and its Relationship to Lipid Digestion

This chapter reviews the lipid digestion process, by examining how transit through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract contributes to the development of the colloidal state of fats and oils during digestion, and how lipid microstructure design may influence the physiological behaviours associated with fat digestion. Oral processing of fats and oils is also an important first step in the lipid digestion processing, ensuring that all ingested fat-containing foods are delivered into the stomach in an emulsified state, thereby providing an interface for adsorption of lipases. The structure of fats during digestion can be affected by the presence of proteins, emulsifiers and crystalline fat, so that emulsions can be designed to have specific digestive behaviours, such as reduction in uptake or improved delivery of bioactives. The chapter talks about lipid structure, digestion and motility in the stomach and intestine.