Jun Jin

Rapeseed oil is an important edible oil with a favorable fatty acid composition and contains endogenous phospholipids (PLs) and lipid-soluble minor components that are relevant to refining, oxidative stability, and product quality. In this study, water degumming (WDG), citric acid degumming (ADG), and ethanol degumming (EDG) were systematically evaluated for their effects on oil quality, phospholipid recovery, and bioactive lipid concentrations. A modified Folch extraction was included solely as a laboratory solvent-extraction benchmark for the compositional characterization of phospholipid-rich fractions. WDG and ADG showed the highest phosphorus removal efficiency, reducing phosphorus to undetectable levels, whereas EDG also achieved substantial dephosphorization. ADG produced the highest PL yield (83.22%), while WDG gave the highest oil recovery (98.42%) and PL purity (95.49%). Although the bulk FA composition of the oil remained largely unchanged after treatment, the recovered PL fractions showed clear differences in FA distribution and PL subclass composition. EDG yielded the highest phosphatidylcholine (PC) and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) contents, indicating selective enrichment of choline-containing PLs. The concentrations of carotenoids, tocopherols, and phytosterols were also process-dependent. Untargeted metabolomic and lipidomic analyses further showed that EDG induced distinct compositional remodeling relative to crude rapeseed oil. Overall, WDG was preferable for oil retention, ADG for maximum PL recovery, and EDG provided a distinct balance between oil recovery, PL recovery, and enrichment of PC- and LPC-containing fractions.

Background/Objectives: Controlled comparisons of extracellular β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) responses induced by individual dietary fatty acids (FAs) remain limited. This study established a preliminary hepatocyte-derived in vitro assay for comparing FA-associated β-HB responses and used exploratory descriptor-based modeling for hypothesis-generating FA ranking. Methods: Dose- and time-dependent extracellular β-HB accumulation induced by nineteen dietary FAs was quantified in HepG2 and AML12 cells under nutrient-deprived assay conditions. For exploratory descriptor-based modeling, the 19-FA HepG2 dataset was split into 15 training compounds and four held-out compounds. Model stability was further assessed using repeated random splits, LOOCV, permutation testing, MCFA sensitivity analyses, and simple structural baseline models. Four additional structurally related FAs were tested only for preliminary experimental ranking assessment, not as an independent external test set. Results: C8:0 and C10:0 consistently induced the highest extracellular β-HB accumulation, whereas most long-chain saturated FAs and very-long-chain monounsaturated FAs showed lower responses. The single four-compound held-out subset yielded an apparent R² of 0.875, but repeated random-split assessment showed substantial split-dependent variability, and simple baseline models performed similarly to GradientBoosting. Conclusions: This study provides a preliminary in vitro dataset for comparing extracellular β-HB responses to selected dietary FAs under defined nutrient-deprived hepatocyte assay conditions. The descriptor-based analysis should be interpreted only as a small-sample, exploratory, hypothesis-generating structure–response framework.

Coffee oil, an increasingly recognized yet underutilized byproduct of spent coffee grounds, has attracted attention due to its diverse lipid composition and minor components. This study systematically investigated the lipid characteristics of coffee oils extracted from both Arabica and Robusta spent coffee grounds subjected to varying roasting degrees. Comprehensive analyses were conducted, mainly regarding oil yield, acid and peroxide values, fatty acid profiles, sn-2 positional fatty acid distribution, triacylglycerol composition, tocopherol content and total Folin-reactive compounds, as well as squalene and sterol profiles. The selected Arabica samples generally showed higher oil yields than Robusta samples, with oil contents ranging from 12.13% to 15.14% and 10.10% to 13.01%, respectively. Arabica coffee oils showed relatively high total tocopherol levels, ranging from 930.35 to 1495.37 mg/kg, whereas Robusta coffee oils ranged from 637.69 to 867.21 mg/kg. Total Folin-reactive compounds varied among samples and should be interpreted as composition-related indicators rather than direct evidence of antioxidant function. In contrast, Robusta coffee oils contained much higher levels of squalene and total sterols, ranging from 97.00 to 170.37 mg/100 g and 787.29 to 1007.92 mg/100 g, respectively. Chemometric analyses showed distinct grouping patterns among the selected coffee oil samples. In the present sample set, the overall lipid profiles were more closely associated with the Arabica and Robusta sample groups than with the assigned roasting levels. These results provide compositional information for the potential use of Arabica coffee oil as a tocopherol- and Folin-reactive compound-rich lipid ingredient. Robusta coffee oil may be further evaluated for applications requiring higher levels of squalene, phytosterols, and relatively saturated lipid structures. This study provides novel insights into the compositional complexity of coffee oil and supports its targeted valorization across various industries.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common age-related neurodegenerative disorder with extremely low drug development success rates, making nutritional intervention a promising strategy. Cerebral energy metabolism dysfunction is a core pathological feature of AD. Odd-chain fatty acids (OCFAs) can generate propionyl-CoA via β-oxidation to replenish the impaired tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. This study characterized the lipid composition of OCFAs-enriched algal oil by UPC²-Q-TOF-MS, evaluated its neuroprotective effects on Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) models with AD, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Huntington’s disease (HD), and explored the metabolic mechanism of its key component pentadecanoic acid (C15:0) using untargeted metabolomics. Results showed that triglycerides (TAGs) represented the predominant lipid class, accounting for 97.3% of the total lipid content in the algal oil. Among all the identified TAG molecular species, TAGs containing C15:0/C17:0 accounted for more than 90%. OCFAs-enriched algal oil exhibited disease-selective neuroprotection. It significantly improved locomotor function in AD nematodes, moderately ameliorated PD-related deficits, whereas showed no efficacy in HD nematodes. Metabolomics revealed that C15:0 produced propionyl-CoA to rescue TCA cycle dysfunction and energy deficits, upregulated membrane phospholipids to repair membrane integrity, and reduced abnormal metabolites to restore metabolic homeostasis. KEGG analysis confirmed that C15:0 globally regulated core metabolic pathways including amino acid, cofactor, nucleotide, and carbon metabolism. OCFAs-enriched algal oil exerted selective anti-AD effects by repairing energy metabolism, remodeling membrane phospholipids, and restoring metabolic homeostasis, providing a novel nutritional candidate for AD intervention.

Branched fatty acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids (FAHFAs), a lipid class with physiological activities, have diverse structures and low natural abundance, necessitating efficient preparation methods. The study presented a method for large-scale 12-FAHFA preparation using 12-OAHSA (Oleic-acid-12-hydroxy stearic acid) as a template. The triglyceride of 12-OAHSA was first synthesized via esterification of fully hydrogenated castor oil with oleoyl chloride, purified by molecular distillation, and then subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis of 12-OAHSA with Lipozyme RM IM (Rhizomucor miehei, and enzyme activity: 360 IUN/g). Finally, 12-OAHSA was purified through a two-stage molecular distillation. Single-factor experiments optimized the parameters of esterification and hydrolysis. LC-MS/MS, NMR, and LC-MS³ were used to identify the synthesized 12-OAHSA. The yield of 12-OAHSA was 35.94%, and the purity was 82.59%. In this way, nine kinds of FAHFAs were synthesized, among which the branching positions of five FAHOAs need to be further confirmed. The method supports future pharmaceutical agent applications of FAHFAs.

Rapeseed oil contains endogenous phospholipids (PLs) and other minor bioactive components, but conventional PL extraction methods commonly rely on chloroform‐based solvent systems that are unfavorable for green and food‐related applications. In this study, n ‐hexane/methanol and n ‐hexane/ethanol extraction systems were evaluated as alternatives to the conventional Folch procedure for PL extraction from crude rapeseed oil. The effects of solvent type and water content on degumming performance, PL subclass composition, oil quality, and structural characteristics of the recovered PLs were systematically investigated. Compared with the Folch procedure, the n ‐hexane/ethanol systems showed significantly improved PL extraction efficiency while maintaining high PL purity. Among the tested conditions, n ‐hexane/ethanol (1:1, v/v) containing 7% water (HE7) gave the best overall performance, yielding 91.18% PLs with 96.54% purity, 90.18% oil recovery, and an undetectable phosphorus content. Compositional analysis showed that the recovered PL fractions were mainly composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), although the subclass distribution varied with the extraction system. FTIR, polarized light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that structurally intact PL‐rich fractions were obtained and that their microstructure depended on extraction conditions. Degumming substantially reduced acid value, but also altered oxidative stability and the retention of endogenous minor components in the oil phase. Correlation and hierarchical clustering analyses further identified HE7 as the most balanced green extraction condition. HE7 represents a promising and more sustainable alternative to the conventional Folch procedure for PL recovery from crude rapeseed oil.

This study investigated the physicochemical modifications of fully hydrogenated palm kernel oil stearin (FHPKS) by incorporating the enzymatically synthesized lauric and myristic acid–based diacylglycerols (DAGs) to enhance its thermal behavior and dispersion properties. The lipid bases were prepared by blending DAGs with FHPKS at different concentrations. The physicochemical properties were characterized via fatty acid and lipid species analyzes, solid fat content, morphology/polymorphism, crystallization kinetics, and disintegration/dissolution times. Results suggested that DAGs were compatible with the FHPKS at 0°C–20°C when added below 40%, while higher DAG concentrations tended to induce eutectic behavior. DAG at 5%–10% significantly promoted β′ crystal formation with fine morphology, reducing dissolution time (from 20.21 ± 0.12 to 16.20 ± 0.30 min) and improving the uniformity and stability of the lipid matrices. Multivariate predictive models were constructed to correlate physicochemical parameters with melting and dispersion properties. These findings offer valuable insights for the functional design of lipid–based systems.

Foods for special medical purposes play a critical role in clinical nutritional support, especially oil-in-water emulsions characterized as having high energy density, which could provide efficient energy for patients with insufficient intake or those requiring fluid restriction. The included oil types are the critical determinants of emulsion stability, which, in turn, governs digestive behavior, absorption efficiency, and ultimate bioavailability of the delivered nutrients. However, such emulsions face stability challenges during storage and application. In the present study, high-energy-density fat emulsions formulated with six typical oils, which contained 50% oil content, were prepared and systematically analyzed in terms of their particle size, zeta potential, microstructure, centrifugal stability, multiple light scattering, and rheological properties. The results indicated that oils with medium-chain fatty acids, due to their compact molecular structure and low viscosity, facilitated the formation of finer droplets and promoted the orderly arrangement of phospholipids at the interface of the emulsion system, leading to the formation of a dense, elastic interfacial layer and a gel network structure. Its marked shear-thinning characteristic and lowest frequency dependence contributed to desirable processing and storage stabilities. In contrast, long-chain triacylglycerols, especially those enriched with monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids, tended to form rigid but insufficiently elastic interfacial layers, which were unfavorable for resisting coalescence and phase separation induced by external forces. Highly unsaturated oils, on the contrary, exhibited medium levels for emulsion stability. Further analysis of the relationship between the physicochemical properties of oils and the characteristics of emulsions revealed that fatty acid species in the oil phase were the key determinants of emulsification behavior. It was therefore speculated that oils rich in medium-chain fatty acids with a moderate degree of unsaturation, especially including selected ω-3 and ω-6 fatty acids, could improve emulsion stability and fatty acid balance synchronously. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical support for the formulation design and stability control of high-energy-density fat emulsions.