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Development and Characterization of Phytosterol-Enriched Oil Microcapsules for Foodstuff Application

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Abstract

Phytosterols are lipophilic compounds contained in plants and have several biological activities. The use of phytosterols in food fortification is hampered due to their high melting temperature, chalky taste, and low solubility in an aqueous system. Also, phytosterols are easily oxidized and are poorly absorbed by the human body. Formulation engineering coupled with microencapsulation could be used to overcome these problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of encapsulating soybean oil enriched with phytosterols by spray-drying using ternary mixtures of health-promoting ingredients, whey protein isolate (WPI), inulin, and chitosan as carrier agents. The effect of different formulations and spray-drying conditions on the microencapsules properties, encapsulation efficiency, surface oil content, and oxidation stability were studied. It was found that spherical WPI-inulin-chitosan phytosterol-enriched soybean oil microcapsules with an average size below 50 μm could be produced with good encapsulation efficiency (85%), acceptable level of surface oil (11%), and water activity (0.2–0.4) that meet industrial requirements. However, the microcapsules showed very low oxidation stability with peroxide values reaching 101.7 meq O2/kg of oil just after production, and further investigations and optimization are required before any industrial application of this encapsulated system.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Tecnoblend srl (Italy), Beneo™ (Belgium), and DRT Group (France) for having provided WPI, inulin, and phytosterol powder, respectively. The authors also thank Prof. Zhibing Zhang of the University of Birmingham for his support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy

    Roberta Tolve & Nicola Condelli

  2. Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Terzioğlu Kampüsü, 17020, Çanakkale, Turkey

    Aygül Can

  3. Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY, UK

    Fideline Laure Tchuenbou-Magaia

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  1. Roberta Tolve
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Correspondence to Roberta Tolve.

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Tolve, R., Condelli, N., Can, A. et al. Development and Characterization of Phytosterol-Enriched Oil Microcapsules for Foodstuff Application. Food Bioprocess Technol 11, 152–163 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-017-1990-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-017-1990-4

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