Mayonnaise traditionally contains 70%–80% vegetal oil (common soy oil), a key ingredient
contributing to its stability. Despite some concerns about high inflammatory omega-6 levels, it is
widely used for to its high emulsifying capacity. Today, the public awareness regarding diet and its
effects on health has increased, and this is guiding the consumer in making better food choices, and
including functional food in their daily diet.
Many researchers have tried to replace fat in mayonnaise; however and unfortunately, decreasing
the oil proportion decreases the oil droplets density, thereby weakening the stability and
interactions between droplets and emulsion. In other words, reducing the fat level decrease the
emulsion’s firmness and viscosity.
Then, how to make healthier mayonnaise? Consumers demand not only healthier food, but also
more functional products, that can respond to their medical needs beyond their nutritional
requirements.
Healthy oils that are well-known for their health promoting properties, such as chia oil (rich in
Omega-3 fatty acids), are underutilized even though having high potential as healthy plant-based
alternative oils that can be used in mayonnaise production.
Benexia’s Development Team added chia oil to mayonnaise formulation. Chia oil was used to
partially and/or fully replace soybean oil that is commonly used in mayonnaise production. Three
mayonnaise samples were prepared by using three oil combinations
- 100% chia oil,
- 50%:50% soybean oil : chia oil and
- 100% soybean oil.
The antioxidant activity, physiochemical properties, lipid profile and sensory evaluation of the
mayonnaise samples were determined by using standard methods. The results showed significantly
higher antioxidant activity for the mayonnaise sample prepared with 100% chia oil in comparison to
other two samples. No significant differences were observed for the physical properties including
flavor and color. The sensory evaluation demonstrated higher preference for the 100% soybean oil
mayonnaise and 50%/50% mayonnaise that both scored a total of 7.0, while the 100% chia oil
mayonnaise scored 5.5 for overall acceptability. The lipid profile was increased in omega-3 fatty
acids and showed a reduction in omega-6 fatty acids in the mayonnaise formulated with 50% and
Benexia SA – Carolina Chica, Head of the Department of Nutrition and R&D
www.benexia.com
50% of soybean and chia oils. A 15 g-serving of mayonnaise from this
blend would provide 5g of omega-3 fatty acids.
The findings of this study demonstrated high potential for using chia oil in mayonnaise production
to improve the quality and the biological functions of the product while maintaining the organoleptic
properties.