The Research Team for Plant Protein Structure and Function Regulation at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IFST-CAAS), recently published a comprehensive review of sugar reduction via W/O/W emulsions, focusing on structural design, sensory modulation, and functional properties. The review was published in Trends in Food Science & Technology (JCR Q1, IF=17.4). The first author is Yingying Gu , a doctoral student enrolled in 2025, and Professor Aimin Shi is the corresponding author.

Achieving effective sugar reduction while maintaining perceived sweetness, textural quality, flavor balance, and consumer acceptance remains a major technological challenge in the development of reduced-sugar foods. W/O/W double emulsions possess a unique hierarchical, multicompartment structure that enables coordinated modulation of tastant and odorant delivery, offering a promising approach to sugar reduction. However, their application remains constrained by leakage from the internal aqueous phase, droplet coalescence, and flavor loss. This review systematically examines double-emulsion systems for reduced-sugar foods, with particular emphasis on how sweetener distribution, interfacial engineering of W/O/W emulsions, and food-grade particulate stabilizers influence sweetness enhancement through olfactory–gustatory cross-modal interactions, sweetener release, flavor delivery, and gastrointestinal digestion. It also provides an in-depth analysis of interfacial regulation of mass transfer between aqueous phases, oral release kinetics, and approaches to enhancing perceived sweetness through flavor modulation. Furthermore, the review identifies challenges to practical implementation, including processing stability, compatibility with food matrices, and insufficient integration across the industrial value chain.

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Project of CAAS.

Original article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2026.106107

Sugar Reduction Strategies of W/O/W Emulsions in Structural Design, Sensory Regulation and Functional Properties