Co-incorporation of probiotics into 3D printed custard cream with hydrophilic and hydrophobic bioactives

Abstract

There is an emerging need for food with specific functionality and nutrition. This work investigated the feasibility of developing 3D printed custard cream co-enriched with probiotics, hydrophilic and hydrophobic bioactives. The effect of EGCG and resveratrol on survival of probiotics encapsulated in 3D printed custard cream during storage, heating, and simulated gastrointestinal conditions were investigated. The addition of bioactives and probiotic coacervates didn't exhibit great influence on the emulsion structure, gel-like rheological behavior and great printing properties of the resulting custard cream samples. The cell survival of encapsulated probiotics in the custard cream with bioactives was prominently increased during storage at 4 °C as well as under heating at 63 and 75 °C. The co-encapsulation of probiotics, EGCG and resveratrol in the custard cream improved the viability of probiotic in the gastrointestinal tract. There was only a 0.85 log and 1.52 log loss of probiotic viability in the custard cream after digestion in simulated gastric and small intestinal digestion conditions. Meanwhile, EGCG and resveratrol in this sample showed a maximum release after simulated digestion, which reached 68.10% and 71.69% release at the end of digestion. Therefore, the co-encapsulation of EGCG, resveratrol with probiotic in this 3D printable custard cream delivery system would be an efficient approach to simultaneous delivery bioactives and probiotic in the gastrointestinal tract with synergistic beneficial effects.