Ingredient-Dependent Extent of Lipid Oxidation in Margarine

This study reports the impact of margarine-representative ingredients on its oxidative stability and green tea extract as a promising antioxidant in margarine. Oil-in-water emulsions received much attention regarding factors that influence their oxidative stability, however, water-in-oil emulsions have only been scarcely investigated. Margarine, a widely consumed water-in-oil emulsion, consists of 80–90% fat and is thermally treated when used for baking. As different types of margarine contain varying additives, their impact on the oxidative stability of margarine during processing is of pressing importance. Thus, the influence of different ingredients, such as emulsifiers, antioxidants, citric acid, β-carotene and NaCl on the oxidative stability of margarine, heated at 80 °C for 1 h to accelerate lipid oxidation, was analyzed by the peroxide value and oxidation induction time. We found that monoglycerides influenced lipid oxidation depending on their fatty acyl chain. α-Tocopheryl acetate promoted lipid oxidation, while rosemary and green tea extract led to the opposite. Whereas green tea extract alone showed the most prominent antioxidant effect, combinations of green tea extract with citric acid, β-carotene or NaCl increased lipid oxidation in margarine. Complementary, NMR data suggested that polyphenols in green tea extracts might decrease lipid mobility at the surface of the water droplets, which might lead to chelating of transition metals at the interface and decreasing lipid oxidation.