Labile Ingredients Research Articles

Application of In Vitro Digestion Models in the Evaluation of Dietary Supplements.

Nowadays, dietary supplements are a permanent part of our diet. Using various simulated in vitro digestive models, the bioavailability of dietary supplement ingredients has also been investigated. In most cases, static models are used instead of dynamic ones. This article focuses on the division of applications of in vitro methods, such as assessing the quality of dietary supplements (in chemical and pharmaceutical form), the impact of diet on the assessment of the bioavailability of product ingredients, the impact of supplement ingredients on the state of intestinal microflora, and the development of new products using various encapsulation methods. The review included publications from 2000 to 2024 showing the use of in vitro methods in dietary supplements containing polysaccharides, proteins, elements, vitamins, and bioactive substances, as well as probiotic and prebiotic products. The impact of components in dietary supplements on the human digestive tract and their degree of bioaccessibility were determined through the use of in vitro methods. The application of in vitro methods has also become an effective tool for designing new forms of dietary supplements in order to increase the availability and durability of labile ingredients in these products.

POSSIBILITIES OF USE OF DOUBLE EMULSIONS IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY

: Emulsions are becoming more and more important in the food sector. These systems allow for the targeted administration of biologically active compounds to the human body as well as the production of new generation products with desired features. It is possible to achieve renewal of the properties of the resulting products through the use of modern approaches in the technologies for creating emulsions and their implementation in the production of dual systems (improvement of organoleptic properties, preservation of freshness and high nutritional value of the product at all stages of its storage, protection of labile ingredients during the technological and digestive processes, controlled release of biologically active ingredients, etc.). An ecologically friendly technique that may be used in the food business to create new food systems that are supplemented with biologically valuable ingredients is the use of double emulsions. The creation and usage of beneficial goods made without the use of chemical substances are receiving a lot of attention right now, which makes this strategy both relevant and promising from a scientific and practical standpoint. Currently, the two-stage emulsification process is the most used technique for creating double emulsions. The biggest disadvantage of this approach of gaining is the system that is created has a poor level of stability. Therefore, current research focuses on creating novel techniques to stabilize the system of double emulsions, such as membrane emulsification, phase inversion techniques using microfluidic devices with glass capillaries, and ultrasonic therapy

Trends and Challenges in the Industrialization of Natural Colorants

Consumer demands and their preferences for naturally derived colorants have increased exponentially and are widely associated with the image of healthy, safe and high-quality products, which constitutes a great challenge to food industries and related food science research institutions. Moreover, such demands have resulted in searches to increase the availability of these compounds. Despite the intense search for plant and microbial sources and efforts to increase extraction yield, few natural colorants have reached available the market. Physicochemical instability during the extraction and storage of natural colorants is a major limitation; some non-conventional extraction and encapsulation technologies are being advocated to minimize this problem. Thus, improving the techniques used for the encapsulation of sensitive or labile ingredients is important to make colorants and, consequently, their bioactive proprieties, accessible to consumers.

Colloidal stability of citrate and mercaptoacetic acid capped gold nanoparticles upon lyophilization: effect of capping ligand attachment and type of cryoprotectants.

For various applications of gold nanotechnology, long-term nanoparticle stability in solution is a major challenge. Lyophilization (freeze-drying) is a widely used process to convert labile protein and various colloidal systems into powder for improved long-term stability. However, the lyophilization process itself may induce various stresses resulting in nanoparticle aggregation. Despite a plethora of studies evaluating lyophilization of proteins, liposomes, and polymeric nanoparticles, little is known about the stability of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) upon lyophilization. Herein, the effects of lyophilization and freeze-thaw cycles on the stability of two types of GNPs: Citrate-capped GNPs (stabilized via weakly physisorbed citrate ions, Cit-GNPs) and mercaptoacetic acid-capped GNPs (stabilized via strongly chemisorbed mercaptoacetic acid, MAA-GNPs) are investigated. Both types of GNPs have similar core size and effective surface charge as evident from transmission electron microscopy and zeta potential measurements, respectively. Plasmon absorption of GNPs and its dependence on nanoparticle aggregation was employed to follow stability of GNPs in combination with dynamic light scattering analysis. Plasmon peak broadening index (PPBI) is proposed herein for the first time to quantify GNPs aggregation using nonlinear Gaussian fitting of GNPs UV-vis spectra. Our results indicate that Cit-GNPs aggregate irreversibly upon freeze-thaw cycles and lyophilization. In contrast, MAA-GNPs exhibits remarkable stability under the same conditions. Cit-GNPs exhibit no significant aggregation in the presence of cryoprotectants (molecules that are typically used to protect labile ingredients during lyophilization) upon freeze-thaw cycles and lyophilization. The effectiveness of the cyroprotectants evaluated was on the order of trehalose or sucrose > sorbitol > mannitol. The ability of cryoprotectants to prevent GNPs aggregation was dependent on their chemical structure and their ability to interact with the GNPs as assessed with zeta potential analysis.

Nonlinear viscoelastic characterization of molten thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) through large amplitude harmonic experiments

The so-called thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) are essentially blends of a crystalline thermoplastic polymer (e.g., polypropylene) and a vulcanizable rubber composition, prepared through a special process called dynamic vulcanization, which yields a fine dispersion of micron-size crosslinked rubber particles in a thermoplastic matrix. Such materials are by nature complex polymer systems, i.e., multiphase, heterogeneous, typically disordered materials for which structure is as important as composition. Correctly assessing their rheological properties is a challenging task for several reasons: first, even if the uniformity of their composition is taken for granted, TPV are indeed very complicated materials, not only heterogeneous but also with a morphology related to their composition; second, their morphology can be affected by the flow field used; third, the migration of small labile ingredients (e.g., oil, curative residue, etc.) can in the meantime significantly change the boundary flow conditions, for instance through self-lubrication due to phase separation of the oil, or wall slip, or both. The aims of the work reported were to investigate a series of commercial TPV through the so-called Fourier transform rheometry, a testing technique especially developed to accurately investigate the nonlinear viscoelastic domain. Results are tentatively interpreted in terms of material composition and structure.

Twin-screw extrusion at low temperature with carbon dioxide injection to assist expansion: extrudate characteristics

Low temperature extrusion may be a suitable process for encapsulating heat labile ingredients in a dry solid matrix. We tested the feasibility of twin-screw extrusion at low temperature using CO 2 for expansion, and evaluated properties of extrudates. Pre-gelatinized rice flour extrudates produced at 40 °C barrel temperature at the feed section ( 6 D ), 50 °C at the next 20 D section and 60 °C at the die plate were highly porous when CO 2 was injected into the melt at 13.5 D from the feed end of a 25 L/D extruder. When CO 2 was injected at 0.1–0.5 MPa, extrudate expansion increased to a maximum at 0.5 MPa, but decreased at 0.6 MPa because of structure collapse after exiting the die. At CO 2 injection pressure of 0.1, 0.5 and 0.6 MPa respectively, expansion ratio was 7.39, 11.02, 8.50; bulk density was 0.951, 0.388, 0.620 g/cm 3; water solubility index was 5.12%, 10.39%, 12.73% and specific mechanical energy was 40.69, 42.64, 43.07 kJ/kg, respectively. The average size of cells in extrudates was 28.74 and 65.58 μm at 0.1 and 0.6 MPa while cell density was 6.395 × 10 7 and 1.048 × 10 7 cells/cm 3, respectively. Ratio of area occupied by cells to total area was 40.13% at 0.1 MPa, 81.16% at 0.5 MPa, but decreased to 67.40 at 0.6 MPa. The pore size distribution at 0.1 MPa was about 80% in the 10–30 μm range, while at 0.5 MPa, cells 10–30 μm diameter occupied only 36% of cross-sectional area while most cells were >30 μm.