Microencapsulation of Vitis vinifera grape pulp phenolic extract using maltodextrin and its application in gummy candy enrichment.

Phenolic extract of Vitis vinifera grape pulp was prepared using ultrasonication at frequencies of 28, 40, and 28-40 kHz with a 1:10, 1:15, and 1:20 ratio of solid (grape pulp) to water. The 1:10 ratio and 40 kHz frequency were considered optimal conditions for the preparation of red grape pulp extract (RGPE). Then, RGPE was encapsulated within maltodextrin using a spray drying technique, and the produced powder was used in the gummy candy production. The results revealed that the phenolic content of the powder was almost constant during the storage time. The solubility of the powder decreased, whereas its moisture content increased during the 45-day storage period. The results of scanning electron microscopy showed that the produced microparticles had spherical shapes with a micron size. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction showed that RGPE was encapsulated in the structure of maltodextrin through the formation of hydrogen bonds, considering the amorphous structure of the powder. The antioxidant properties of the microencapsulated RGPE containing gummy candy were preserved. Sensory evaluation and colorimetric values of the enriched gummy candy had acceptable results compared to the control sample. In general, microencapsulation of RGPE within maltodextrin as a carrier using the spray drying technique and its application in gummy candy enrichment could be useful.

Recent Advances of Macromolecular Hydrogels for Enzyme Immobilization in the Food Products.

Enzymes are one of the main biocatalysts with various applications in the food industry. Stabilization of enzymes on insoluble carriers is important due to the low reuse, low operational stability, and high cost in applications. The immobility and the type of carrier affect the activity of the immobile enzyme. Hydrogels are three-dimensionally cross-linked macromolecular network structures designed from various polymers. Hydrogels can provide a matrix for an immobile enzyme due to their extraordinary properties such as high water absorbing capacity, carrier of bioactive substances and enzymes, biocompatibility, safety, and biodegradability. Therefore, this study mainly focuses on some enzymes (lactase, lipases, amylases, pectinase, protease, glucose oxidase) that are of special importance in the food industry. These enzymes could be immobilized in the hydrogels constructed of macromolecules such as kappa-carrageenan, chitosan, Arabic gum, pectin, alginate, and cellulose. At last, in the preparation of these hydrogels, different enzyme immobilization methods in macromolecular hydrogels, and effect of hydrogels on enzyme activity were discussed.

The oxidative and thermal stability of optimal synergistic mixture of sesame and grapeseed oils as affected by frying process.

In spite of grapeseed oil high contents of linoleic acid, its oxidative stability is relatively low, and mixing with more stable oils such as sesame oil can be a good way to improve the oxidative stability of this oil. The aim of this study was to increase the oil oxidative stability by producing an optimum formulation due to the combination of grapeseed and sesame oil. For this purpose, some of the qualitative properties of the optimum formulation were investigated during frying process. For finding the best formulation, the quantities of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of sesame oil were blended with 100, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 0% of grapeseed oil. The results show that the highest percentage of fatty acid in various samples (sesame oil, grapeseed oil, and mixed formulations) is related to the linoleic acid, followed by oleic, palmitic, and stearic acid. In conclusion the addition of sesame oil to grapeseed oil increased the number of phenolic compounds, antioxidant strength, and oxidative stability of the mixed oil samples. Considering the price of the product and the importance of the nutritional quality and stability of the oil, combining 75% sesame oil and 25% grapeseed oil has the best nutritional quality and lower cost than pure sesame oil formula. After frying process, comparison of sesame and grapeseed oil different factors with national Iranian standard limits showed that the parameters of acid number and peroxide value were more than Iran's national standard, but the content of polar compounds was within the permissible content. Finally, the mixture of sesame and grapeseed oil is not suitable for long-term heating and frying.

Advanced properties of gelatin film by incorporating modified kappa-carrageenan and zein nanoparticles for active food packaging.

Recently, the improvement of gelatin-based films for usage in food packaging has attracted more attention owing to their non-toxicity, biodegradability, availability, and renewability. In the current study, the improved gelatin-based films were produced using covalent interaction through dialdehyde kappa-carrageenan (DAK-car) and thymol-loaded zein nanoparticle content. The influences of DAK-car into the matrix of gelatin films (GEL) on the structural, total soluble matter (TSM), moisture content (MC), and water vapor permeability (WVP), and mechanical properties were investigated. After the formation of covalent crosslinking amongst the amino groups of GEL and the dialdehyde groups of DAK-car with the blending ratio of 1:2 (GEL 4% w/v): (DAK-car 1% w/v), a remarkably (p < 0.05) reduction was saw in TSM, MC, and WVP of film. The tensile strength of this film (72.26 ± 0.3 MPa) was ~20-fold higher compared with pure GEL film. It should also be noted that the presence of zein nanoparticles (ZNPs) did not have a notably effect on improving the attributes of gelatin-based film. However, the presence of thymol in concentrations of 0.25 and 0.5 mg/mL showed acceptable antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. As a result, GEL/DAK-car with blending ratio of 1:2 containing thymol-loaded ZNPs films demonstrated the valuable potential for application in active food packaging.

Antimicrobial bio-nanocomposite films based on gelatin, tragacanth, and zinc oxide nanoparticles - Microstructural, mechanical, thermo-physical, and barrier properties.

Gelatin and tragacanth were employed to fabricate antimicrobial nanocomposites with 1, 3, and 5% zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs). FT-IR and XRD proved new chemical interactions among GEL/TGC/ZnO-NPs and higher crystallinity of nanocomposites, respectively. DSC showed a significant increase in melting point temperature (Tm) from ~ 90 to ~ 93-101 °C after adding 1-5% ZnO-NPs. Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) was remarkably increased to 31.21, 34.57, and 35.06 MPa, as well as Young's Modulus to 287.44, 335.47, and 367.04 MPa after incorporating 1, 3, and 5% ZnO-NPs. The ZnO-NPs dose-dependently reduced the water vapor permeability (WVP) of the films. FE-SEM analysis from surface and cross-section illustrated the compact and homogenous structure of the nanocomposites even up to 5% ZnO-NPs. The ZnO-NPs-containing nanocomposites had a good antimicrobial activity (~10-20 mm) against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Generally, the results indicated that the prepared nanocomposite films are promising antimicrobial bio-materials for food packaging.

Conjugated linoleic acid loaded nanostructured lipid carrier as a potential antioxidant nanocarrier for food applications.

The encapsulation of fatty acids in nanocarrier systems is a very effective technique in improving their biological efficiency and controlled delivery. Nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) is a major type of lipid-based nanoparticle. This study is focused on producing nanolipid carrier containing conjugated linoleic acid and fortifying low-fat milk using this nanoparticle. Nanostructured lipid carriers were produced by hot high-shear homogenization containing 1.5% Poloxamer 407, cocoa butter as solid lipid, and conjugated linoleic acid as liquid oil in ratio of 10:1. Results showed that the nanoparticles sized 81 nm with monomodular dispersity and the system was stable at 4 and 22°C for 40 days. Zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency (%EE) were -15.8 mV and 98.2%, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the particles are in spiral form and small size and no significant aggregation was observed because of few changes in the system turbidity after storage time. The result of oxidative stability showed that using Nanostructured lipid carriers system resulted in lower malone dialdehyde production. Conjugated linoleic acid was protected at level of 3.9% of milk fatty acids in Nanostructured lipid carrier formulation during storage time. Based on these findings, Nanostructured lipid carriers system is an appropriate and stable nanocarrier system for delivery of nutraceuticals in foods and can be used in protecting them against oxidation, heating, and other processes in order to fortify foods and beverages.

Novel carriers ensuring enhanced anti-cancer activity of Cornus mas (cornelian cherry) bioactive compounds.

Cornusmas' bioactive compounds are powerful antioxidants. In this study, we evaluated the antioxidant activity of the encapsulated bioactive compounds of Cornus mas extract (CME) and its release in semi digestive condition via enteric coated nanocarriers (NCs). The two forms of CME, encapsulated into enteric coated nanocarriers (CME-NCs) and free CME, were studied to determine the effect of encapsulation on the stability of antioxidants. Then, their effect on cell cycle, cell viability and apoptosis of cancer cells were studied. The characterization analysis reported the mean particle size and zeta potential value of NCs equal to 22.7 ± 6.58 nm and -16 ± 5 mV. The results showed that CME-NCs could improve IC50 value 1.33 and 1.47 times more than the free CME after 24 and 48 h of incubation. These findings confirmed that CME-NCs could stop the cells proliferation in G1 phase, and caused apoptosis in cancer cell line HT-29.

Design, fabrication and characterization of pectin-coated gelatin nanoparticles as potential nano-carrier system.

The main purpose of this study was to fabricate potential nano-delivery systems based on protein-polysaccharide complex for use in beverages. In this regard, optimum gelatin-pectin complex (GPC) nano-carrier with hydrodynamic diameter of ≈200 nm was designed and fabricated using low-bloom gelatin (BG) and high-methoxyl pectin (CP) at BG/CP weight ratio of 1:1 (0.025%(w/v) CP on 0.025%(w/v) BG) and pH 4.5. The suspension containing GPC nano-carrier had very good transparency (14.1NTU). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images illustrated that the GPC particles were spherical with fairly smooth surface. Particle size analysis showed that the complex particles had a narrow size distribution (polydispersity index (PDI)≈0.254). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) confirmed the formation of amide bonds between carboxyl groups in CP and amino groups in BG, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed the amorphous nature of the GPC nano-carrier. Finally, the storage stability test indicated that the GPC particles didn't significantly grow after 20 days of storage at 4°C. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The encapsulation of bioactive compounds have different benefits, for example, protection from several damaging environmental factors such as light, oxygen, moisture, heat, mechanical stresses, or other destructive agents, controlling the release of bioactives within foods during storage and also in human gastrointestinal tract, increase in solubility in aqueous foods and covering unfavorable flavor and odor of bioactive ingredients. So that, development of this technic can develops new functional, healthy foods, and foods with new tastes.

Influence of spray drying encapsulation on the retention of antioxidant properties and microstructure of flaxseed protein hydrolysates.

In this research, bioactive peptides produced from flaxseed protein by alcalase, pancreatin, trypsin and pepsin, were encapsulated by spray drying. After analysis of amino acid composition and antioxidant properties of hydrolysates, the effect of spray-drying encapsulation via different maltodextrin (MD) to hydrolysate ratios (1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 w/w) on the production yield, physicochemical properties, functional activities, chemical structure, and morphology of final powder particles were evaluated. Among the hydrolysates, peptides produced with alcalase had the highest hydrolysis degree (38.2%), hydrophobic amino acids (255 mg/g) and antioxidants (126 mg/g). Among spray-dried samples, the powders obtained by 3:1 w/w ratio (MD: peptide) showed the highest radical scavenging activity for DPPH- (68.93%), ABTS+ (85.62%), hydroxyl (94.97%), nitric oxide (64.03%), reducing power (95.49%), total antioxidant activity (96.68%), and iron (95.31%) and copper (95.49%) chelating activity. Evaluation of chemical structure (FTIR) indicated that hydrolysates were coated and dispersed within maltodextrin matrix. SEM images showed the effect of different carrier ratios on the production of irregular and shrunk particles with different sizes and matrix-type structures.

Vitamin D3-Loaded Nanostructured Lipid Carriers as a Potential Approach for Fortifying Food Beverages; in Vitro and in Vivo Evaluation.

Purpose: Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) composed of solid lipid and oil are a new generation of lipid nanoparticles which have exhibited some merits over traditional used lipid nanoparticles in fortifying food and beverages and nutraceuticals delivery systems such as liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles. Methods: In this study, Precirol and Compritol as solid lipids, Miglyol and Octyloctanoat as liquid lipids, Tween80, Tween20 and Poloxamer407 as surfactants were used to prepare vitamin D3-loaded NLC dispersion using hot homogenization method. The particle size and size distribution for all formulations were evaluated by immediately after production and during a storage period of 60 days. Results: The Precirol-based NLC showed superiority over Compritol-based NLC in the point of physical stability. Results clearly suggested that an optimum concentration of 3% of Poloxamer407 or 2% of Tween20 was sufficient to cover the surface of nanoparticles effectively and prevent agglomeration during the homogenization process. Octyloctanoat was introduced for the first time as a good substituent for Miglyol in the preparation of NLC formulations. The vitamin D3 Intestinal absorption enhanced by the incorporating in NLCs. Conclusion: It was concluded that NLC showed a promising approach for fortifying beverages by lipophilic nutraceuticals such as vitamin D.

Encapsulation of Vitamin A Palmitate in Nanostructured Lipid Carrier (NLC)-Effect of Surfactant Concentration on the Formulation Properties.

PURPOSE: Nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) is a useful delivery system with high capacity for bioactive loading, and suitable stability for fortification of foods and beverages. The objective of the present work is to prepare vitamin A palmitate (vitA)-loaded NLC and to investigate surfactant concentration effect on physicochemical properties of prepared formulation. METHODS: VitA-loaded NLC was prepared by hot homogenization method. Preciol as solid lipid, Octyloctanoate as liquid oil, and Poloxamer as surfactant were used to prepare the formulation. The effect of different concentrations of Poloxamer on particle size, particle size distribution, encapsulation efficiency and stability of vitA during storage were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) was exploited to study the possible bioactive-lipid complex formation. RESULTS: NLCs stabilized with 6% Poloxamer showed significantly lower particle size and particle size distribution. The encapsulation efficiency of this formulation was 98.5% and it was stable during the storage at 25°C for two months. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that surfactant significantly influences the final product properties. Our findings may pave the way of researchers to focus on fortifying the beverages with various lipophilic nutraceuticals.