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Black seed oil (BSO) has several therapeutic benefits, mostly owing to its active ingredient thymoquinone (TQ). BSO’s unpleasant taste and unavailability of dosage form suitable for children nictitate the need for a new formulation. This study aimed to encapsulate BSO in alginate beads for TQ stabilisation and taste masking. Microencapsulation was performed using an electrospray technique where the flow rate and high voltage were studied using 32 full factorial design. The response variables were the size and shape of the beads and the encapsulation efficiency. TQ stability was studied using HPLC, while taste masking was evaluated in healthy human volunteers. Also, BSO was completely encapsulated in spherical beads. It was found that the high voltage and flow rate had significant effects on beads size. Furthermore, TQ in BSO-alginate beads was more stable than TQ in an aqueous solution and the original BSO. The palatability study showed significant improvement in BSO palatability following encapsulation. Therefore, this study suggests that BSO palatability can be improved without reducing TQ stability by encapsulation in alginate beads.

Thymoquinone (TQ) is the major active compound in black seed oil (BSO). Many pharmacological effects of TQ, such as anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, antioxidant, immune stimulator, and anticancer, have been reported. TQ can be considered as a biomarker for BSO, but its content in the commercial products is rarely reported. TQ content varies based on the oil source and extraction method. This study aimed to quantify the TQ content in the commercial BSO products in Malaysia and to evaluate whether the products can be used as a source of TQ for therapeutic benefits. TQ was quantified using an established high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. TQ human equivalent dose (HED) was calculated based on reported animal studies from literature, and theoretical BSO amount containing the TQ dose was calculated based on the HPLC analysis. TQ content in the commercial BSO products ranged from 0.07% wt/wt to 1.88% wt/wt. The product with the highest TQ concentration is approximately 27-fold higher than the product with the lowest TQ concentration. Consequently, theoretical BSO amounts needed for specific diseases varied and some products cannot provide practical amount of TQ. This study recommends the regulation of TQ content in BSO and suggests that the BSO might be fortified with extra TQ to be effectively used in some diseases.

Objective: This study aimed to use attenuated total reflectance-fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) for rapid quantification of black seed oil (BSO) from alginate beads and to develop simple analysis method for in vitro release study based on turbidity measurement. Methods: Guluronic acid-rich (high-G) sodium alginate was used to encapsulate BSO with the aid of Tween 80 as a stabilizer. ATR-FTIR method was developed for quantification of encapsulation efficiency of BSO by applying Beer-Lambert law after selection of a few wave number combinations. UV-vis method based on measurement of emulsion turbidity at 600 nm was also developed to quantify BSO during the releasing from alginate beads in simulated intestine buffer. Results: ATR-FTIR method exhibited linearity in the range of 25-300 mg BSO /ml emulsion (mg BSO /ml E )with R 2 =0.998, RSD=8.4%, LOD=0.28 mg BSO /ml E and LOQ=0.87 mg BSO /ml E . BSO-alginate beads was found to completely encapsulate BSO with around 100.5% efficiency. UV-vis method exhibited linearity in the range of 50-300 mg BSO /ml E , R 2 =0.9931, RSD=1.34%, LOD=0.89 mg BSO /ml E, and LOQ=2.71 mg BSO /ml E . In addition, the method showed that total amount of BSO was released at 110 min. Conclusion: These methods are considered as a practical method for quantification of BSO for encapsulation efficacy and release. They will help to accelerate and improve routine characterization of encapsulated BSO in food and pharmaceutical technology.