Food science researchers from the University of NSW have developed a promising method to make spray dried beta carotene (β-carotene) microcapsules more stable, as reported in a paper published in Food Chemistry.
Beta carotene microcapsules are used as a dietary supplement to provide a source of beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, an important nutrient required for normal growth, vision, immune function, and general health.
The lead author, Dr. Woojeong Kim, who is a Ph.D. candidate at the time supervised by Prof Cordelia Selomulya at UNSW, proposed a novel combination of plant and dairy proteins with and without the carbohydrate maltodextrin as carriers to encapsulate β-carotene.
They found that cross-linking the proteins with an enzyme and adding maltodextrin improved the encapsulation efficiency and reduced the porosity of the microcapsules, making the particle more stable.
β-carotene was successfully preserved for at least eight weeks, with an encapsulation efficiency of more than 90%.
Microencapsulation is a technique used to protect sensitive components by encapsulating them in a specific material. The choice of materials is important for the effectiveness and durability of the encapsulation.
Spray drying is a popular method for encapsulation in the food and pharmaceutical industries, because it transforms liquid materials into powder form. However, controlling the amount of fat on the surface of the spray and dry particles is difficult.
The researchers used an advanced technique at the Australian Synchrotron’s Infrared Microspectroscopy (IRM) beamline, to analyze the surface composition of the microcapsules and found that the cross-linked protein-maltodextrin complex helped reduce the amount of oil exposed on the surface.
Synchrotron-FTIR microspectroscopy is used to obtain high-quality spectra on a small scale, which allows for the examination of microparticles.
“The IRM technique allows us to see at the molecular level what is happening on the surface with cross linking of protein structures, especially how much protein is on the surface,” explained Dr. Kim, whose investigation of dairy and plant proteins as food emulsifiers was published in a paper on Trends in Food Science and Technology in 2020.
“It gives us in-depth information about what happens when you cross-link dairy and plant protein and don’t just mix them together,” he added. “It also provides some useful secondary structure information about proteins.
“Since the first development of the ‘macro-ATR’ technique in 2016, our beamline has proven to be very useful in various food and drug delivery applications to investigate chemical distributions on surfaces and interfaces that are critical for this research. Vongsvivut, a co-author of the paper.
Prof Selomulya said that, more broadly, the cross-linked pea and whey protein-maltodextrin complex is a promising ingredient for functional foods.
More information:
Woojeong Kim et al, On the surface composition and stability of β-carotene microcapsules containing pea/whey protein complexes by synchrotron-FTIR microspectroscopy, Food Chemistry (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.136565
Provided by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO)
Citation: Advanced method to improve the stability of spray dried microcapsules for the delivery of nutrients (2023, July 20) retrieved 20 July 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-07-advanced-method-stability-spray-dried.html
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