Designing new salt products to reduce sodium intake while maintaining the desired saltiness by optimizing the structure of salt has become a popular strategy in today's efforts to promote salt reduction. To meet this need and promote a more healthy diet, capsaicin (CAP) hollow salt (HS) with enhanced antioxidant stability and stronger salty sensation were prepared by nanoemulsion-spray drying strategy using a wet Maillard conjugate from whey protein isolate (WPI) and gum arabic (GA). The hollow salts prepared from nanoemulsions containing 15% (w/v) salt and 3% (w/v) WPI-GA conjugate showed better microstructure, water content, solubility, and angle of repose. The novel CAP-encapsulated hollow salt (CAP@HS) with 3% (w/v) WPI-GA conjugate exhibited a higher encapsulation rate of 72.16 ± 1.32% for CAP, along with good antioxidant ability and thermal ability. In addition, the CAP@HS demonstrated superior release in the intestinal fluid and exhibited high bioaccessibility during simulated digestion. It is worth mentioning that CAP@HS exhibited a higher fluorescence signal in the in vitro Na+ retention assay conducted on porcine tongue, when compared to that of traditional salt and hollow salt. Combined with electronic tongue taste analysis and sensory evaluation, CAP@HS showed a stronger salty sensation. This will lead to new strategies for dual realization of sodium reduction and enhanced functionality for salt reduction products.
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