Vitamin D ₃ Emulsions Stabilized With Pea Proteins and Arabinoxylans as a Fortification Strategy for Plant‐Based Beverages

This study aimed at evaluating the potential of pea protein isolate (PPI) and corn arabinoxylans (CAX) as emulsifiers to develop plant‐based drinks enriched in vitamin D 3 . The effect of PPI and CAX as emulsifiers on structural changes of emulsions during digestion, lipid digestion kinetics, final lipid digestion, and vitamin D 3 bioaccessibility, alone or included in an oat milk (OM) drink, was assessed. PPI was used alone or in combination with corn arabinoxylans (PPI+CAX) and Tween 80 was used as a control emulsifier. All resulting emulsions presented small droplet sizes (D (3,2) = 0.57–2.58 µm). The incorporation of the emulsions into OM reduced the bridging phenomena observed in emulsions stabilized with PPI+CAX, hence presenting a higher colloidal stability. This incorporation also prevented droplet coalescence during digestion of emulsions, as shown in the microcopy images during oral and gastric digestion in the presence of PPI or PPI+CAX as emulsifiers. However, the incorporation of PPI and PPI+CAX emulsions into OM resulted in a decreased digestion rate compared to the emulsions alone. However, no significant differences were found in the final fatty acid or the bioaccessibility of vitamin D 3 . Taken together, these results underline the potential of PPI+CAX in the development of plant‐based beverages efficiently supplying vitamin D 3 .