Improving the thermal stability of natural bioactive ingredients via encapsulation technology.

Bioactive compounds (bioactives) such as phenolic acids, coumarins, flavonoids, lignans and carotenoids have a marked improvement effect on human health by acting on body tissues or cells. Nowadays, with increasing levels of knowledge, consumers prefer foods that can provide bioactives beside the necessary nutrients (e.g.

Recent progresses in the delivery of β-carotene: From nano/microencapsulation to bioaccessibility.

Beta-carotene (BC) as an efficient pro-vitamin is effective in improving vision, immune system and cognitive function as well as preventing coronary diseases and cancer. However, besides its poor chemical stability, the high lipophilic nature of BC reduces its dispersibility and consequently bioavailability which limits its application into food, pharmaceutical and nutraceuticals. Different carriers with vesicular or particulate structures have been studied and utilized for promoting BC solubility, dispersibility, and protection against diverse operational or environmental stresses and also controlling BC release and subsequent bioaccessibility.

Microemulsions as nano-reactors for the solubilization, separation, purification and encapsulation of bioactive compounds.

Bioactive components possess various functionalities and are most interested for different food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical formulations. The current review will discuss the preparation methods and fabrication techniques to design microemulsions (MEs) for the solubilization, separation, encapsulation and purification of various agro-food bioactive compounds. ME systems have shown suitable potential in enhancing oil recovery, protein extraction, and isolation of bioactive compounds.

Microemulsion as nanoreactor for lutein extraction: Optimization for ultrasound pretreatment.

In the present study, the capability of microemulsion technique, as a novel technique for synchronous extraction and solubilization of lipophilic compounds, on lutein extraction from marigold petals was investigated. Under the optimized sonication (amplitude 100%, 120 s, 25°C), the extraction efficiency increased (85%) using SDS:ethanol (1:2)-based ME. Moreover, sonication led to smaller droplets (12-163 nm) with favorable thermodynamic stability.

Nano based lutein extraction from marigold petals: optimization using different surfactants and co-surfactants.

Nanotechnology has high potential in processing of industrial crops and by-products in order to extract valuable biological active compounds. The present study endeavored to take advantage of nanotech approach ( microemulsion, ME), as a novel green technique, for lutein extraction from marigold () as an industrial crop. The pseudo-ternary phase diagrams confirmed the effect of surfactant type on the formation of mono-phasic lutein MEs.

Preparation of cold water-soluble potato starch and its characterization.

Alcoholic-alkaline treatment of starch results in granular cold water-soluble starch. The nature of structural alterations occurred in starch due to the treatment is however relatively vague. Potato starch was treated at various alcoholic-alkali conditions and subjected to light microscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry.

An attempt to cast light into starch nanocrystals preparation and cross-linking.

Potato starch was hydrolyzed with 2.2 or 3.7 M hydrochloric acid in order to obtain the nanocrystals which afterwards were chemically cross-linked with sodium hexametaphosphate.