Encapsulation of cholecalciferol and ergocalciferol in oil‐in‐water emulsions by different homogenization techniques

Abstract

Ergocalciferol (VD2) and cholecalciferol (VD3) are bioactive compounds with reduced bioavailability. Soybean oil, olive oil, or medium chain triglyceride containing 0.5% w/w VD2 and VD3, was used as a dispersed phase, while phosphate buffer containing 1% w/w Tween 20 served as a continuous phase. The two phases were emulsified with a rotor‐stator homogenizer (RSH) at 5000–20 000 rpm for 5 min or with high pressure homogenization (HPH) at 100 MPa after RSH at 7000 rpm for 5 min. The volume mean diameter (d4,3) of the formulated oil‐in‐water (O/W) emulsions gradually decreased with increasing the rotation speed of RSH. The O/W emulsions formulated under appropriate homogenization conditions remained stable over 30 days of storage period. There was no prominent difference in d4,3 of the O/W emulsions formulated with the HPH, differing from d4,3 of the O/W emulsions formulated with the RSH during 30 days of storage period. There was little effect of homogenization types on release profile of the VD2 and VD3 loaded emulsions. The encapsulation efficiencies of VD2 and VD3 were less than 70% after 10 days of storage, followed by sharp decline to 10% after 30 days at 4°C.Practical applications: Multiple studies have emphasized the benefits to human health of including vitamins in the diet and as special nutrient formula for athletes. For this reason, our study was proposed to formulate a stable emulsion system that could later be added to formulate high energy food or energy drinks.A mixture of cholecalciferol (VD2) and ergocalciferol (VD3) is successfully encapsulated in the O/W emulsions. The different homogenization conditions have no significant effect on the encapsulation efficiencies. There is sharp decline in encapsulation efficiencies of VD2 and VD3 after 15 days of storage.