Flaxseed oleosomes: Responsiveness to physicochemical stresses, tribological shear and storage

This study aimed to extract oleosomes (OLs) from flaxseeds and assess their response to environmental
conditions during storage (pH and ionic strengths), shear and tribological stresses. Our hypothesis was
that a shear-induced instability will enable OLs to exhibit favourable lubrication performance. During
storage, OLs exhibited resistance to droplet aggregation for up to 6 weeks owing to the proteins (3.5-
152.8 kDa molecular weights) stabilizing the OL droplets. However, presence of divalent (Ca 2+ ) ions
induced destabilization with marked increase in droplet size (p < 0.05). OLs demonstrated shear thinning
behaviour, displaying an order of magnitude higher viscosity than flaxseed oil (FSO) at low shear rates
(<10 s -1 ). Strikingly, OLs mirrored the frictional profile of FSO regardless of entrainment speeds, due to
droplet coalescence, validating the hypothesis. Such kinetic stability with shear-induced coalescing
feature of OLs hold strong potential for future plant-based food development, particularly in achieving
desired mouthfeel characteristics.