MICROENCAPSULATED POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS USED AS NUTRACEUTICALS

Abstract

Fish oils with a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are gaining increasing interest in the food and nutraceutical industry, due to their important functional properties for human beings� health improvement. The most important PUFAs have at least two double bonds placed on the carbon chain. These include ?-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahaxaneoic acid (DHA). Microencapsulation is a technique used to protect the bioactive compounds from oxidative damage, to ensure their controlled release and to activate the synergistic effect of the ingredients, if it exists. In this context, the microencapsulation process of fish oils rich in PUFAs using alginate was studied, in the presence and the absence of an ultrasonic (US) field. Both BoxBehnken design of experiment technique and the Response Surface Method were used, to investigate the influence of the process parameters and to optimize the operating conditions. The operating parameters under investigation were the sodium alginate to fish oil ratio, the calcium chloride concentration and time being the objective. The fish oil microspheres had a homogeneous round shape, a diameter of 0.12 � 0.02 mm. Physicochemical description of microcapsules was performed using modern characterization methods.