19Vitamins are important micro nutritional compounds which are involved in many 20 biochemical functions in the Human body but are not synthesized by it; so, they have to 21 be supplied through diet. However, vitamins are very sensitive which provoke a 22 significant loss during the food processes and storage. So, microencapsulation can be used 23 to minimize the loss of vitamins, to minimize the factors that interfere with their stability, 24 to allow a controlled release process and to mask its undesirable taste, increasing their 25 applicability. 26In the present work, the microencapsulation of two vitamins, by a spray-drying process, 27 was studied: vitamin B12, considering that is the most chemically complex and the largest 28 of all the vitamins and vitamin C which is the most popular vitamin in the food industry. 29The microparticles were prepared using a spray-dryer BÜCHI B-290 (Flawil,30 Switzerland) with a standard 0.5 mm nozzle, under the following conditions: solution and 31 air flow rates, air pressure and inlet temperature were set at 4 ml/min (15%), 32 m3/h 32 (80%), 6.0 bar and 120 ºC, respectively. The prepared microparticles were characterized 33 and their physicochemical structures were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy 34 This work shows that it is possible to encapsulate vitamins using different biopolymers, 47 through a spray-drying process. 48 49
Recently, the studies about vitamin B12 increased due to the high number of people who can develop vitamin B12 deficiency, namely: vegetarians, pregnant women or with vitamin B12 malabsorption. One solution to correct the low nutritional intake of vitamin B12 can be using food supplements or pharmaceuticals, based on the vitamin B12 microencapsulation. In the present research, the vitamin B12 microencapsulation and the controlled release of fresh and 4 months' storage samples of vitamin B12 microcapsules were studied. The microcapsules were prepared using a spray-drying technique, and 7 biopolymers were used as encapsulating agents: arabic gum, sodium alginate, carrageenan, maltodextrin, modified starch, xanthan and pectin. The product yield of the spray-dryer ranged from 20 to 50%. The microparticles were also characterized in terms of size and morphology. The vitamin B12 release profiles from microcapsules were assessed by spectrophotometric analysis, at 361.4 nm, in deionized water at 22ºC and simulated gastric fluid at 37ºC. This study showed that the vitamin B12 microcapsules, with good stability properties, can be produced with several encapsulating agents and proved the possibility of releasing the vitamin in different periods of time.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.