Abstract
Abstract Novel food structures’ development through handling of macroscopic and microscopic properties of bio-based materials (e.g., size, shape and texture) is receiving a lot of attention since it allows controlling or changing structures’ functionality. Proteins are among the most abundant and employed biomaterials in food technology. They are excellent candidates for creating novel food structures due to their nutritional value, biodegradability, biocompatibility, generally recognized as safe status and molecular characteristics. Additionally, the exploitation of proteins’ gelation and aggregation properties can be used to encapsulate bioactive compounds inside their network and produce consistent delivery systems at macro-, micro- and nanoscale. Consequently, bioactive compounds which are exposed to harsh storage and processing conditions and digestion environment may be protected and their bioavailability could be enhanced. In this review, a range of functional and structural properties of proteins which can be explored to develop macro-, micro- and nanostructures with numerous promising food applications was discussed. Also, this review points out the relevance of scale on these structures’ properties, allowing appropriate tailoring of protein-based systems such as hydrogels and micro- or nanocapsules to be used as bioactive compounds delivery systems. Finally, the behaviour of these systems in the gastrointestinal tract and the impact on bioactive compound bioavailability are thoroughly discussed.
Highlights
Recent strategies in food technology are centered on the development of bio-based structures for various applications such as entrapment and protection of bioactive compounds (Okuro et al, 2015; Aditya et al, 2017)
The authors observed that the bioaccessibility of both bioactive compounds was significantly enhanced after lipid droplets were mixed with the nanoparticles. These results showed that lipophilic bioactive compounds’ bioaccessibility and stability can be improve by mixed colloidal delivery systems design (Liu et al, 2018)
It is possible to find some research works where nanoscale protein-based structures were capable to cross the intestinal membrane for example, folic acid-conjugated Soy protein isolates (SPI) nanoparticles as a delivery system for curcumin (Teng et al, 2013) and gambogic acid-LF nanoparticles (Zhang et al, 2013)
Summary
Recent strategies in food technology are centered on the development of bio-based structures for various applications such as entrapment and protection of bioactive compounds (Okuro et al, 2015; Aditya et al, 2017). The selection of nanoscale for protein structures (e.g., nanohydrogels) is usually required to improve the stability or bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds and minimize their influence on color, texture, and flavor of the final product. The use of nanolayers is an advantage in economic terms, once it only requires a few amounts of a biopolymer such as proteins to improve the stability of bio-based structures at different environmental conditions (e.g., GIT environment and food matrices) (McClements and Rao, 2011).
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