Recent microencapsulation trends for enhancing the stability and functionality of anthocyanins: a review.

Anthocyanins (ACNs) are water-soluble pigments in various fruits and vegetables known for their high antioxidant activity. They are used as natural food colorants and preservatives and have several medicinal benefits. However, their application in functional foods and nutraceuticals is often compromised by their low stability to heat, oxygen, enzymes, light, pH changes, and solubility issues. Spray drying has emerged as an effective microencapsulation technique to enhance the shelf life, quality, and stability of ACNs. This manuscript reviews the latest scientific developments in spray drying microencapsulation of ACNs-rich fruit extracts. Process optimization and the stability and physicochemical properties of the spray-dried, microencapsulated ACNs-rich powders are discussed. This review also covers functional food and nutraceutical applications and introduces novel encapsulation methods, such as freeze-drying, supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2), coacervation, drum drying, and electrospraying, highlighting their potential in improving the utility of ACNs-rich fruit extracts.

Comparison of high pressure and thermal pasteurization on the quality parameters of strawberry products: a review.

Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) is rich in bioactive compounds with high antioxidant activity. High pressure processing (HPP) is an efficient alternative to preserve these bioactive compounds in terms of microbial inactivation and shelf-life stability. This review compares the effects of pasteurization methods using high pressure or thermal pasteurization (TP) on the quality parameters of various strawberry-based products. To summarize, most of the high pressure-treated products are microbiologically stable and showed minimum degradation of thermolabile compounds than TP-treated ones. However, some studies reported that high pressure did not have an advantage over TP especially in the preservation of phenolic phytochemicals during storage. The insufficient enzyme inactivation and high residual activity of enzymes after high pressure treatment could cause anthocyanins degradation thus affecting the product quality. Overall, this review could be valuable to potential processors in evaluating the effective commercialization of high pressure-treated strawberry products.

Stability Enhancement of Anthocyanins from Blackcurrant (Ribes Nigrum L.) Pomace through Intermolecular Copigmentation.

Intermolecular copigmentation denotes the interaction between colored anthocyanins and the colorless copigment, which is not bound covalently to the anthocyanin molecule. This is the first study to investigate the effect of intermolecular copigmentation on the stability of individual anthocyanins from dried blackcurrant pomace (DBP) using four pure phenolic acids as copigments (ferulic, caffeic, chlorogenic, and rosmarinic acid). Studies were performed at pH 3.0 and pH 6.0, with a copigment/anthocyanin extract molar ratio of 5:1, during storage at 20 °C. At both pH 3.0 and 6.0, rosmarinic acid showed the strongest hyperchromic and bathochromic effects (p < 0.05) on day 0. However, rosmarinic acid showed low stability during storage. At pH 3.0, chlorogenic acid and control samples were capable of maintaining very high levels of total anthocyanin stability during storage (p < 0.05). On the other hand, ferulic acid and control samples had the longest estimated half-life during storage at pH 6.0. Intermolecular copigmentation successfully increased the half-life, color retention, and antioxidant activity of the anthocyanin solution, with cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G) exhibiting the highest stability at both pH values. Overall, anthocyanins from DBP, in combination with chlorogenic or ferulic acid, showed potential for use in commercial food applications.

Optimization of the Drum Drying Parameters and Citric Acid Level to Produce Purple Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) Powder Using Response Surface Methodology.

Purple sweet potato (PSP) is a rich source of anthocyanins, but the anthocyanin content and color can be affected by the drying method and processing condition. Response surface methodology (RSM) with a Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to investigate the effects of citric acid (CA) concentration, steam pressure (SP) and rotation speed (DS) on the physicochemical and functional properties of drum-dried purple sweet potato powder (PSPP). The anthocyanins of the PSPP were analyzed using mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization and twelve anthocyanins were identified. The results indicated that the moisture content (4.80 ± 0.17-9.97 ± 0.03%) and water activity (0.290 ± 0.004-0.47 ± 0.001) (p < 0.05) decreased with increasing drum temperature as well as with reduced drum rotating speed. CA had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on the color and total anthocyanin content (101.83 ± 2.20-124.09 ± 2.89 mg/100 g) of the PSPP. High SP and low DS negatively affected the antioxidant properties of the PSPP. DPPH value of the PSPP ranged from 20.41 ± 0.79 to 30.79 ± 1.00 µmol TE/g. The optimal parameters were achieved at 0.59% CA, 499.8 kPa SP and 3 rpm DS.

Acetic acid buffer as extraction medium for free and bound phenolics from dried blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) skins.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different solvent and extraction temperatures on the free and bound phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of dried blackcurrant skins (DBS). Apart from acetic acid buffer solution, different solvent systems, including water, methanol, and mixtures of methanol/water, were also employed and the effects of solvent and temperature (30 and 50 °C) on the free and bound forms of anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acids, and flavonols yield were assessed. The results showed that among all solvents, acetic acid buffer resulted in the highest free anthocyanin content (1,712.3 ± 56.1 mg/100 g) (P < 0.05) after 2 hr extraction at 50 °C from DBS, while lower amounts of bound anthocyanins and anthocyanidins were detected after acid hydrolysis. Acetic acid buffer extracts exhibited the highest free hydroxycinnamic acid content (268.0 ± 4.5 mg/100 g), total phenolic content (3702.2 ± 259.3 mg GAE/100 g), and DPPH activity (60.7 ± 2.0% of inhibition). However, their free flavonol content was slightly lower (60.2 ± 0.8 mg/100 g) compared to 100% methanol at 30 and 50 °C (71.4 ± 1.5 mg/100 g and 71.5 ± 6.2 mg/100 g, respectively). Two-way ANOVA indicated interactions between solvent and temperature (P < 0.05), which suggested that the relationship between solvent and phenolic compounds depends on the extraction temperature. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Overall, acetic acid buffer is more environmental friendly, efficient, and cost effective than other solvents, thus, offering an improved extraction method for phytochemicals as valuable ingredients for nutraceutical applications, from underutilized dried blackcurrant skins (DBS).