Nanoemulsions fabricated from food-grade ingredients are being increasingly utilized in the food industry to encapsulate, protect, and deliver lipophilic functional components, such as biologically-active lipids (e.g., ω-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid) and oil-soluble flavors, vitamins, preservatives, and nutraceuticals. The small size of the particles in nanoemulsions (r<100 nm) means that they have a number of potential advantages over conventional emulsions-higher stability to droplet aggregation and gravitational separation, high optical clarity, ability to modulate product texture, and, increased bioavailability of lipophilic components. On the other hand, there may also be some risks associated with the oral ingestion of nanoemulsions, such as their ability to change the biological fate of bioactive components within the gastrointestinal tract and the potential toxicity of some of the components used in their fabrication. This review article provides an overview of the current status of nanoemulsion formulation, fabrication, properties, applications, biological fate, and potential toxicity with emphasis on systems suitable for utilization within the food and beverage industry.

Food-grade nanoemulsions: formulation, fabrication, properties, performance, biological fate, and potential toxicity.

Recent advances in the stabilization of emulsions and foams by particles of nanoscale and microscopic dimensions are described. Ongoing research in this highly active field is providing insight into (i) the molecular factors controlling particle wettability and adsorption, (ii) the structural and mechanical properties of particle-laden liquid interfaces, and (ii) the stabilization mechanisms of particle-coated droplets and bubbles. There is much potential for exploiting the emerging knowledge in new food product applications. The preparation of cheap and effective colloidal particles based on food-grade ingredients, especially proteins, is the key technological challenge.

Food emulsions and foams: Stabilization by particles

There is a pressing need for edible delivery systems to encapsulate, protect, and release bioactive lipids within the food, medical, and pharmaceutical industries. The fact that these delivery systems must be edible puts constraints on the type of ingredients and processing operations that can be used to create them. Emulsion technology is particularly suited for the design and fabrication of delivery systems for encapsulating bioactive lipids. This review provides a brief overview of the major bioactive lipids that need to be delivered within the food industry (for example, ω-3 fatty acids, carotenoids, and phytosterols), highlighting the main challenges to their current incorporation into foods. We then provide an overview of a number of emulsion-based technologies that could be used as edible delivery systems by the food and other industries, including conventional emulsions, multiple emulsions, multilayer emulsions, solid lipid particles, and filled hydrogel particles. Each of these delivery systems could be produced from food-grade (GRAS) ingredients (for example, lipids, proteins, polysaccharides, surfactants, and minerals) using simple processing operations (for example, mixing, homogenizing, and thermal processing). For each type of delivery system, we describe its structure, preparation, advantages, limitations, and potential applications. This knowledge can be used to facilitate the selection of the most appropriate emulsion-based delivery system for specific applications.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2007.00507.x

Emulsion-based delivery systems for lipophilic bioactive components.

Epidemiological studies have clearly shown that whole-grain cereals can protect against obesity, diabetes, CVD and cancers. The specific effects of food structure (increased satiety, reduced transit time and glycaemic response), fibre (improved faecal bulking and satiety, viscosity and SCFA production, and/or reduced glycaemic response) and Mg (better glycaemic homeostasis through increased insulin secretion), together with the antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties of numerous bioactive compounds, especially those in the bran and germ (minerals, trace elements, vitamins, carotenoids, polyphenols and alkylresorcinols), are today well-recognised mechanisms in this protection. Recent findings, the exhaustive listing of bioactive compounds found in whole-grain wheat, their content in whole-grain, bran and germ fractions and their estimated bioavailability, have led to new hypotheses. The involvement of polyphenols in cell signalling and gene regulation, and of sulfur compounds, lignin and phytic acid should be considered in antioxidant protection. Whole-grain wheat is also a rich source of methyl donors and lipotropes (methionine, betaine, choline, inositol and folates) that may be involved in cardiovascular and/or hepatic protection, lipid metabolism and DNA methylation. Potential protective effects of bound phenolic acids within the colon, of the B-complex vitamins on the nervous system and mental health, of oligosaccharides as prebiotics, of compounds associated with skeleton health, and of other compounds such as alpha-linolenic acid, policosanol, melatonin, phytosterols and para-aminobenzoic acid also deserve to be studied in more depth. Finally, benefits of nutrigenomics to study complex physiological effects of the 'whole-grain package', and the most promising ways for improving the nutritional quality of cereal products are discussed.

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New hypotheses for the health-protective mechanisms of whole-grain cereals: what is beyond fibre?

Milk proteins are natural vehicles for bioactives. Many of their structural and physicochemical properties facilitate their functionality in delivery systems. These properties include binding of ions and small molecules, excellent surface and self-assembly properties; superb gelation properties; pH-responsive gel swelling behavior, useful for programmable release; interactions with other macromolecules to form complexes and conjugates with synergistic combinations of properties; various shielding capabilities, essential for protecting sensitive payload; biocompatibility and biodegradability, enabling to control the bioaccessibility of the bioactive, and promote its bioavailability. The review highlights the main achievements reported in the last 3 years: harnessing the casein micelle, a natural nanovehicle of nutrients, for delivering hydrophobic bioactives; discovering unique nanotubes based on enzymatic hydrolysis of α-la; introduction of novel encapsulation techniques based on cold-set gelation for delivering heat-sensitive bioactives including probiotics; developments and use of Maillard reaction based conjugates of milk proteins and polysaccharides for encapsulating bioactives; introduction of β-lg–pectin nanocomplexes for delivery of hydrophobic nutraceuticals in clear acid beverages; development of core-shell nanoparticles made of heat-aggregated β-lg, nanocoated by beet-pectin, for bioactive delivery; synergizing the surface properties of whey proteins with stabilization properties of polysaccharides in advanced W/O/W and O/W/O double emulsions; application of milk proteins for drug targeting, including lactoferrin or bovine serum albumin conjugated nanoparticles for effective in vivo drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier; beta casein nanoparticles for targeting gastric cancer; fatty acid-coated bovine serum albumin nanoparticles for intestinal delivery, and Maillard conjugates of casein and resistant starch for colon targeting. Major future challenges are spot-lighted.

Milk proteins as vehicles for bioactives

There is an increased interest in the role that some nutrients may play in preventing or ameliorating the effect of major diseases (for example, some types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, eye disorders, among others). In this respect, the bioavailability or the proportion of an ingested nutrient that is made available (that is, delivered to the bloodstream) for its intended mode of action is more relevant than the total amount present in the original food. Disruption of the natural matrix or the microstructure created during processing may influence the release, transformation, and subsequent absorption of some nutrients in the digestive tract. Alternatively, extracts of bioactive molecules (for example, nutraceuticals) and beneficial microorganisms may be protected during their transit in the digestive system to the absorption sites by encapsulation in designed matrices. This review summarizes relevant in vivo and in vitro methods used to assess the bioavailability of some nutrients (mostly phytochemicals), types of microstructural changes imparted by processing and during food ingestion that are relevant in matrix-nutrient interactions, and their effect on the bioavailability of selected nutrients.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2007.00274.x

Food microstructure affects the bioavailability of several nutrients.

Development of alginate microspheres containing thyme essential oil using ionic gelation

Starch is the most important source of energy for humans, and it is present in many products derived from cereals, legumes and tubers. Interestingly, some of these food products can have different metabolic effects (e.g. change of postprandial blood glucose concentration) although the total amount of starch is the same. This review focuses on a microstructural perspective of the glycemic response, in search of an alternative and complementary explanation of this phenomenon. Several starch and food microstructures are responsible for the change in starch bioaccessibility. Aspects such as the characterization of the microstructure of starchy products and, its relation to the metabolic problem, the crucial role of the food matrix and other components in the ingested meal, and the gaps in our present knowledge are discussed.

Review: starch matrices and the glycemic response.

Starch granule microstructure affects the digestion of starch and its nutritional impact; however, the exact relationship between both factors is not clear. This study reports quantitative relationships between granule size (length and polygonal area), degree of gelatinization (DG), in vitro digestibility (by enzymatic methods), and glycemic response of potato starch granules gelatinized to various extents by heating at several constant temperatures in the range of 55 to 65 °C. DG measured by differential scanning calorimetry was closely related with heating temperature (R2= 0.997), size parameters of granules (measured by image analysis), in vitro digestion, and in vivo glycemic response (R2 of adjusted models > 0.9); shape parameters of granules (measured by image analysis) were not related with DG. Results demonstrate that DG of starch strongly affects its digestibility in vitro, and may influence the postpandrial glycemic response. Future studies should be performed to investigate the effect of potato starch gelatinization on the nutritional impact at other temperatures and in more complex matrices.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2008.01016.x

In vitro Digestibility and Glycemic Response of Potato Starch is Related to Granule Size and Degree of Gelatinization

In real food, starch is usually forming part of a matrix with lipids and proteins. However, research on this ternary system and interactions between such food components has been scarce so far. The control of food microstructure is crucial to determine the product properties, including sensorial and nutritionals ones. This paper reviews the microstructural principles of interactions between starch, lipids, and proteins in foods as well as their effect on postprandial glycemic response, considering human intrinsic differences on postprandial glycemic responses. Several lines of research support the hypothesis that foods without rapidly digestible starch will not mandatorily generate the lowest postprandial glycemic response, highlighting that the full understanding of food microstructure, which modulates starch digestion, plays a key role on food design from a nutritional viewpoint.

Javier Parada

Papers

Food microstructure affects the bioavailability of several nutrients.

Development of alginate microspheres containing thyme essential oil using ionic gelation

Review: starch matrices and the glycemic response.

In vitro Digestibility and Glycemic Response of Potato Starch is Related to Granule Size and Degree of Gelatinization

Interactions between Starch, Lipids, and Proteins in Foods: Microstructure Control for Glycemic Response Modulation