Yang_2025_Food.Res.Int_213_116558

Lipid compatibility refers to the ability of lipids to blend homogeneously without phase separation. Interesterification has been widely used to improve compatibility among different types of lipids; however, the effect of the newly-formed triacylglycerols resulting from interesterification on compatibility has not been investigated. Therefore, the effect of interesterification on lipid compatibility was investigated through the enzymatic interesterification of palm olein and palm kernel stearin. Following interesterification, the eutectic behavior of the palm olein/palm kernel stearin blend systems was eliminated. A high degree of interesterification resulted in the formation of up to 56.04 % medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols, which exhibited increased susceptibility to polymorphic transformation from beta' to beta, leading to the formation of a less dense crystal structure. A key novelty of this study is the development of a ternary model to elucidate the mechanism by which interesterification improves lipid compatibility. Upon interesterification, the binary lipid blend system transitioned into a ternary system due to the incorporation of newly-formed medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols, which enhanced compatibility. These findings suggest that the interactions between the newly-formed and substrate triacylglycerols should be carefully considered when employing interesterification to modify lipid compatibility.