3. Results and discussion
3.1. Vitamin D3 retention and stability in cheese
Fig. 1 shows the RL and stability of vitamin D3 in cheese enriched
with flaxseed oil rich in omega-3 fatty acids over three
months. After cheese making, the RL of vitamin D3 was 84%
in the absence of lecithin. The addition of lecithin allowed an
increase in the retention of vitamin D3 by 7% as compared to
cheese without this phospholipid. The amount of vitamin D3
has remained stable in both types of cheese within three
months of storage at 4 °C (in closed system conditions). Although
a slight decrease in the amount of cholecalciferol was
seen for cheese with ECD3 after 2 months of storage, this change
was not significant. The results demonstrate that the addition
of lecithin in the used emulsions improved the retention
and stability of the vitamin D3.
To understand this effect of lecithin, we conducted a study