Vitamin A fortification: Recent advances in encapsulation technologies

Abstract

Vitamin A is an essential micronutrient whose deficiency is still a major health concern in many regions of the world. It plays an essential role in human growth and development, immunity, and vision, but may also help prevent several other chronic diseases. The total amount of vitamin A in the human diet often falls below the recommended dietary allowance of approximately 900–1000 μ$ \umu $g/day for a healthy adult. Moreover, a significant proportion of vitamin A may be degraded during food processing, storage, and distribution, thereby reducing its bioactivity. Finally, the vitamin A in some foods has a relatively low bioavailability, which further reduces its efficacy. The World Health Organization has recommended fortification of foods and beverages as a safe and cost‐effective means of addressing vitamin A deficiency. However, there are several factors that must be overcome before effective fortified foods can be developed, including the low solubility, chemical stability, and bioavailability of this oil‐soluble vitamin. Consequently, strategies are required to evenly disperse the vitamin throughout food matrices, to inhibit its chemical degradation, to avoid any adverse interactions with any other food components, to ensure the food is palatable, and to increase its bioavailability. In this review article, we discuss the chemical, physical, and nutritional attributes of vitamin A, its main dietary sources, the factors contributing to its current deficiency, and various strategies to address these deficiencies, including diet diversification, biofortification, and food fortification.

75 Years of Vitamin A Production: A Historical and Scientific Overview of the Development of New Methodologies in Chemistry, Formulation, and Biotechnology

“…Humans cannot synthesize vitamin A itself, but it can be obtained in the diet from animal products such as eggs, fish, dairy products, and meat. Alternatively, pro-vitamin A compounds can be converted in the body into vitamin A; these are generally available from plants, and the most important pro-vitamin A compounds are the carotenoids β-carotene, α-carotene, and β-cryptoxanthin . One of the most obvious effects of vitamin A deficiency is the reduction or loss of sight, including the disease nyctalopia (night blindness).…”

“…In addition to humans, vitamin A is essential for the correct development and maintenance of the health of animals. The recommended dosing of vitamin A for various animals and at different stages of human life can be found in refs and .…”

“…Alternatively, provitamin A compounds can be converted in the body into vitamin A; these are generally available from plants, and the most important pro-vitamin A compounds are the carotenoids β-carotene, α-carotene, and β-cryptoxanthin. 4 One of the most obvious effects of vitamin A deficiency is the reduction or loss of sight, including the disease nyctalopia (night blindness). Deficiency has also been linked to an increased risk of a number of chronic diseases including cancer, immunological disorders, and cardiovascular disease.…”

Fortification by design: A rational approach to designing vitamin D delivery systems for foods and beverages

“…Lipids are the main structural component used to create LBDSs, such as nanoemulsions, emulsions, SLNs, and NLCs (Figure 4). LBDSs are particularly suitable for vitamin D fortification purposes because the particles have hydrophobic interiors that can accommodate and retain relatively large amounts of oil‐soluble vitamins (Maurya & Aggarwal, 2017a; Maurya et al., 2020, 2022, 2021). Moreover, the lipids may be digested within the gastrointestinal tract leading to the formation of mixed micelles that can solubilize and transport the vitamin D.…”

“…One of the most effective strategies for increasing the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of oil‐soluble bioactive substances is to utilize colloidal delivery systems (Bazile, 2014; Maurya et al., 2022; McClements, 2020). Colloidal particles have been fabricated from a wide range of synthetic and natural materials for this purpose, using a broad spectrum of fabrication technologies (Glowka et al., 2019; Ramalho et al., 2017).…”