Structure–property relationships in agar–soy protein emulsion gels: effects of oil type and droplet sizeDownload PDF Download PDF ArticleOpen accessPublished: 03 July 2026Jiseon Lee1,Minyeong Lee2,Youling L. Xiong3 &…Mi-Jung Choi1 npj Science of Food (2026) Cite this article We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.SubjectsBiochemistryBiotechnologyChemistryEngineeringMaterials sciencePlant sciencesAbstractThis study investigated agar–soy protein isolate emulsion gels, focusing on the effects of oil type and droplet size on their structural organization and physicochemical properties. Emulsion gels were prepared using canola oil, rice bran oil, or eugenol in micro-sized and nano-sized forms, and their properties were evaluated in comparison with pork fat. Nano-sized emulsions produced finer, more homogeneous networks, while micro-sized emulsions showed higher mechanical strength. Rice bran oil nano-sized gels exhibited balanced strength, high water-holding capacity, and low syneresis, indicating enhanced network compactness and stability. These effects may be associated with differences in interfacial characteristics and droplet–matrix interactions depending on oil type. Eugenol-based gels showed structure-dependent behavior, where micro-sized gels enhanced hardness and freeze–thaw resistance, whereas nano-sized gels exhibited reduced structural integrity. Thermal analysis confirmed the absence of triglyceride melting transitions, although rice bran oil nano-sized gels showed the highest transition enthalpy. FTIR analysis suggested size-dependent differences in molecular organization within the gel network, reflecting variations in interfacial structuring and lipid domain distribution. These findings highlight the potential of combining droplet size control with oil phase characteristics to design structured emulsion gel systems for plant-based applications.AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean Government (MSIT) (RS-2022-NR069657). This study was supported by the KU Research Professor Program of Konkuk University.Author informationAuthors and AffiliationsSchool of Animal, Food Science and Marketing, Konkuk University, Seoul, South KoreaJiseon Lee & Mi-Jung ChoiDepartment of Food Science and Biotechnology of Animal Resources, Konkuk University, Seoul, South KoreaMinyeong LeeDepartment of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USAYouling L. XiongAuthorsJiseon LeeView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarMinyeong LeeView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarYouling L. XiongView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarMi-Jung ChoiView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCorresponding authorCorrespondence to Mi-Jung Choi.Ethics declarationsCompeting interestsThe authors declare no competing interests.Additional informationPublisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Supplementary informationSupplementary Data (download DOCX )Rights and permissionsOpen Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.Reprints and permissionsAbout this article