Influence of olive oil phenolic compounds on headspace aroma release by interaction with whey proteins

The release of volatile compounds in an oil-in-water model system obtained from olive oil-whey protein (WP) pairing was investigated by considering the effect of phenolic compounds. Human saliva was used to simulate mouth conditions by retronasal aroma simulator (RAS) analysis. Twelve aroma compounds were quantified in the dynamic headspace by SPME-GC/MS. The results showed significant influences of saliva on the aroma release of virgin olive oil (VOO) volatiles also in the presence of WP. The interaction between WP and saliva leads to lower headspace release of ethyl esters and hexanal. Salivary components caused lower decrease of the release of acetates and alcohols. A lower release of volatile compounds was found in the RAS essay in comparison to that in orthonasal simulation of only refined olive oil (without addition of saliva or WP), with the exception of hexanal and 1-penten-3-one, where a significantly higher release was found. Our results suggest that the extent of retronasal odor (green, pungent) of these two volatile compounds is higher than orthonasal odor. An extra VOO was used to verify the release in model systems, indicating that WP affected aroma release more than model systems, while saliva seems to exert an opposite trend. A significant increase in aroma release was found when phenolic compounds were added to the system, probably due to the contrasting effects of binding of volatile compounds caused by WP, for the polyphenol-protein interaction phenomenon. Our study could be applied to the formulation of new functional foods to enhance flavor release and modulate the presence and concentrations of phenolics and whey proteins in food emulsions/dispersions.