Methyl cellulose in lab-made emulsions slowed fat digestion
What it found
In lab tests, emulsions made with cellulose nanocrystals and methyl cellulose released less free fatty acid during simulated digestion than those with cellulose nanocrystals alone.
The same was seen with chitosan.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Fat digestion slowed
After the three-stage digestion, free fatty acid release was 73% for cellulose nanocrystals alone, 64% for those with methyl cellulose, and 70% or 56% for those with chitosan added in different ways. Methyl cellulose and chitosan both significantly reduced lipolysis in the lab tests.
Emulsion stability
Adding methyl cellulose or chitosan made the oil droplets bigger and helped the emulsions stay stable in the simulated digestive fluids.
Chitosan mixing order
When chitosan was complexed with cellulose nanocrystals before making the emulsion, rather than added later, free fatty acid release dropped the most, to 56%.
No cell toxicity
All the emulsions tested showed no toxicity to cells under the lab conditions used.
What the authors conclude
“Together, these results demonstrate the potential of CNCs combined with dietary fibre as nanomaterials in food products to modulate the rate of lipid digestion.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say the results show that cellulose nanocrystals combined with dietary fibre could be used as nanomaterials in food products to control how fast fat is digested.
How it was done
The authors wanted to find ways to engineer foods that can slow down fat digestion and improve health outcomes.
They made Pickering emulsions using cellulose nanocrystals combined with either methyl cellulose or chitosan, varying the composition, mixing order and method. They then put these emulsions through a three-stage lab model that mimics the mouth, stomach and small intestine.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- These are lab tests that mimic digestion, not studies in people. They cannot show what happens when someone eats these emulsions.
- The tests used specific lab-made emulsions, so the results may not apply to other foods or real meals.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
- Authors work at
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, UK; King's College London, UK
The paper
- Title
- Controlling in vitro lipid digestion: Pickering emulsions with cellulose nanocrystals, chitosan and methylcellulose
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Zhang L, Halket J, Caldwell A, Vllasaliu D, Bajka B, Dreiss CA (2025). Controlling in vitro lipid digestion: Pickering emulsions with cellulose nanocrystals, chitosan and methylcellulose. Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.). doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2025.116793PubMed 40790654DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error