Nanotechnology for Bioactives Delivery Systems
MARCOS ANTONIO DAS NEVES1,2, ISAO KOBAYASHI2 AND MITSUTOSHI NAKAJIMA1,2*
1. Alliance for Research on North Africa, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
2. National Food Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan
ABSTRACT
The properties of functional foods depend largely on their micro- and/or nano-scale structure. Conventionally, the preparation of functional foods is based on large-scale processing. As a consequence, the structure of the products cannot be precisely controlled. Recently, micro-/nano-technology have been developing and increasingly applied to the formulation of functional foods. This paper summarizes some applications of micro-/nano-processing of food materials into dispersions, foreseeing their application as bioactives delivery systems. Nanodispersions containing antioxidant food materials were formulated and evaluated using various top-down techniques or a bottom-up method, particularly the performance of various polyglycerol esters (PGE) of fatty acid in the preparation and characterization of β-carotene nanodispersions during in vitro gastric digestion. Microchannel (MC) and nanochannel (NC) emulsification for producing monodisperse emulsions were investigated. The development of NC emulsification devices for monodisperse fine emulsions is also presented. The properties of functional foods depend largely on their micro- and/or nano-scale structure. Conventionally, thepreparation of functional foods is based on large-scale processing. As a consequence, the structure of the products cannot beprecisely controlled. Recently, micro-/nano-technology have been developing and increasingly applied to the formulation offunctional foods. This paper summarizes some applications of micro-/nano-processing of food materials into dispersions,foreseeing their application as bioactives delivery systems. Nanodispersions containing antioxidant food materials wereformulated and evaluated using various top-down techniques or a bottom-up method, particularly the performance of variouspolyglycerol esters (PGE) of fatty acid in the preparation and characterization of β-carotene nanodispersions during in vitrogastric digestion. Microchannel (MC) and nanochannel (NC) emulsification for producing monodisperse emulsions wereinvestigated. The development of NC emulsification devices for monodisperse fine emulsions is also presented.
Key words: food nanotechnology, micro-/nano-emulsification, monodisperse emulsions, bioactives, monosized droplets,
microcapsules