Oxidative stability of structured lipids

The current popularity on structured lipids (SLs) is well known because they are presented as improved lipids from the technological or nutritional point of view. Regardless of the demonstrated health or therapeutic properties of a novel SL, it is important to consider that whether such lipid shows instability, deteriorates the quality of the food, worse the sensory attributes or reduce its self-life, its production for the food industry field would not be worthwhile. The current review attempts to collect the reported information so far on SLs regarding their quality and oxidative stability as affected by diverse parameters, as well as the impact of SLs on the oxidative stability of food model systems or real food products. In general, most researchers have reported a worse oxidative stability of SLs with respect to original oils, mainly related to the loss of endogenous antioxidants, due to that, both synthetic and natural antioxidants are being tested in SLs. Furthermore, other diverse parameters are involved in the stability of SLs, such as the conditions of production technology, the oil sources, the positional distribution of fatty acids or the unsaturation degree of lipids. Therefore, due to the huge diversity of factors affecting SLs, stating general and definitive conclusions on their oxidative behavior is difficult since complicated and controversial results are reported.