Organogelators as a Saturated Fat Replacer for Structuring Edible Oils

Fats are among the most vital macronutrients that are needed to keep your body healthy. While eating moderate amounts is beneficial, excessive intake of fats can cause serious complications such as cancer and other cardiovascular diseases. These problems can be reduced by substituting the saturated and trans fats with mono- and poly-unsaturated fats. Unfortunately, these substitutions do not provide the desired texture and other physical properties in the final product. So to solve this issue, the concept of “organogels” was introduced. Structuring of edible oil is becoming a potential strategy to reduce/eliminate the trans/saturated fats. Researchers are working to introduce fat like properties in these liquid oils by different strategies like imparting some compounds in oil which leads to its gelation. This review provides a detailed study on the organogel’s building blocks, its structuring techniques, organogelator’s effects, problems associated with the development of organogels, and their solutions. Applications of organogels in different fields of life and particularly in the food industry are also discussed. Efforts are required to develop analytical methods for understanding the underlying mechanisms of structuring organogels and to explore more food grade organogelators.