Microencapsulation as a Tool for the Formulation of Functional Foods: The Phytosterols’ Case Study

Abstract

Hypercholesterolemia, which is an increase in total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) serum cholesterol, is an important risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases. Lifestyle modifications underpin any action plan for reducing serum cholesterol. Phytosterols are natural compounds belonging to the triterpenes family. Thanks to their structural analogy with cholesterol, phytosterols have the ability to reduce serum LDL-cholesterol levels. Phytosterols are used to enrich or fortify a broad spectrum of food products. Like unsaturated fatty acids and cholesterol, phytosterols are easily oxidized. Microencapsulation could be a useful tool to overcome this and other drawbacks linked to the use of phytosterols in food fortification. In this review, in addition to explaining the phytosterols' mechanisms of action, a focus on the use of free and encapsulated phytosterols for the formulation of functional foods, taking also into account both technological and legislative issues, is given.

Prospects of Marine Sterols against Pathobiology of Alzheimer’s Disease: Pharmacological Insights and Technological Advances

“…Their study showed that the inclusion complex enhanced water solubility of sterols to 8.68 mg mL −1 and resulted in free form 0.02 mg mL −1 [ 78 ]. Likewise, many studies have recently been conducted to enhance the bioavailability of sterols, but no studies have focused on brain delivery [ 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ]. Sterol-loaded nanocarriers seem promising to increase more bioavailability in blood; however, more extensive studies are required to investigate tissue and organ distributions and the toxicity risks.…”

Desarrollo de productos lácteos funcionales y sus implicaciones en la salud: Una revisión de literatura

“…Esta estrategia ha entrado en tendencia debido a que protege el compuesto de interés al tiempo que permite conservar las características organolépticas, logrando una mayor aceptación del producto final 32,40,43 . Además, se ha demostrado que esta estrategia de incorporación aumenta la biodisponibilidad del nutriente, permitiendo un mayor beneficio para la salud del consumidor 46 .…”

“…Se ha reportado la aplicación de la técnica de microencapsulación con probióticos de las cepas Lactobacillus y Bifidobacterium, incorporados en productos lácteos como yogurt, queso, postre de leche y helado 47 ; con fitoesteroles de tipo extracto comercial, añadidos en yogurt 46 , con vitaminas D, E, y hierro empleadas en bebidas lácteas y yogurt 40,48,49 con aceites de origen animal y vegetal, adicionados en queso fresco, cheddar y mozzarella, los cuales han sido añadidos teniendo como principal interés la incorporación de ácidos grasos insaturados en la matriz láctea. La microencapsulación de aceites aumenta la estabilidad de las emulsiones y disminuye la oxidación de los ácidos grasos insaturados, permitiendo una menor afectación de la calidad sensorial de los productos fortificados 32,38,43,50 .…”

Impact of encapsulating probiotics with cocoa powder on the viability of probiotics during chocolate processing, storage, and in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

“…Various techniques have been successfully used for probiotics microencapsulation including spray drying, spray chilling and cooling, freeze drying (lyophilization), fluidized bed drying, emulsification and extrusion (Frakolaki et al., 2020; Pourjafar et al., 2020). Freeze drying could be considered as the best drying method for probiotic microencapsulation because this technique removes moisture by sublimation under vacuum without exposing the microorganisms to heat stress (Chávez & Ledeboer, 2007; Tolve et al., 2020;), although it is more expensive than other methods. Nevertheless, considering the fact that viable cell numbers in the final encapsulated products play a significant role in its functionality, freeze drying can be considered as a suitable choice to guarantee the maximum viable number, where the extra cost of this technique can be recovered by the best quality of the final encapsulated probiotics (Pech‐Canul et al., 2020).…”