Fabrication of vitamin D3 nanoemulsions stabilized by Tween 80 and Span 80 as a composite surface-active surfactant: Characterization and stability

Abstract

Poor water solubility is one of the main adverse factors for vitamin D3 to be used as a fortifier in water-soluble food system. In this study, a phase transformation based nanoemulsion fabrication process was developed to encapsulate vitamin D3 with Tween 80 and Span 80 as a composite surface-active surfactant (named as Vit D3 NEs). The encapsulation efficiency of vitamin D3 in resultant oil in water nanoemulsions reached 99.9%. The prepared Vit D3 NEs was spherical with average particle size of 391.47 ± 12.89 nm, polydispersity index of 0.23–0.31, and endothermic temperature of 127.1 ℃. Results of FTIR indicated that hydrophobic, electrostatic and hydrogen bond interactions were involved in Vit D3 NEs fabrication. Compared to un-encapsulated Vit D3 (bare Vit D3), Vit D3 NEs displayed higher stability under gastric digestion, and sustained release under intestinal digestion. The cumulative release of Vit D3 reached 69% after 5 h of intestinal digestion. Further, Vit D3 NEs demonstrated stronger thermal stability than the bare Vit D3 at 40–60 °C, and the first-order kinetics was well fit to describe its thermal degradation. Our work suggests a new insight into the application of Vit D3 NEs stabilized by Tween 80 and Span 80 in food industry.