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The most commonly used vesicular systems in the food industry include liposomes, niosomes, phytosomes, or transfersomes. This review focuses on showing how nano-vesicular carriers (NVCs) amend the properties of bioactive compounds (bioactives), making them suitable for food applications, especially functional foods. In this research, we elaborate on the question of whether bioactive-loaded NVCs affect various food aspects such as their antioxidant capacity, or sensory properties. This review also shows how NVCs improve the long-term release profile of bioactives during storage and at different pH values. Besides, the refinement of digestibility and bioaccessibility of diverse bioactives through NVCs in the gastrointestinal tract is elucidated. NVCs allow for stable vesicle formation (e.g. from anthocyanins) which reduces their cytotoxicity and proliferation of cancer cells, prolongs the release bioactives (e.g. d-limonene) with no critical burst, reduces the biofilm formation capacity of both Gram-positive/negative strains and their biofilm gene expression is down-regulated (in the case of tannic acid), low oxidation (e.g. iron) is endured when exposed to simulated gastric fluid, and unpleasant smell and taste are masked (in case of omega-3 fatty acids). After the incorporation of bioactive-loaded NVCs into food products, their antioxidant capacity is enhanced, maintaining high encapsulation efficiency and enduring pasteurization conditions, and they are not distinguished from control samples in sensory evaluation despite the reverse situation about free bioactives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Iron (Fe) is an important element for our body since it takes part in a huge variety of metabolic processes. However, the direct incorporation of Fe into food fortification causes a number of problems along with undesirable organoleptic properties. Thus, encapsulation has been suggested to alleviate this problem. This study first sheds more light on the Fe encapsulation strategies and comprehensively explains the results of Fe encapsulation studies in the last decade. Then, the latest attempts to use Fe (in free or encapsulated forms) to fortify foods such as bakery products, dairy products, rice, lipid-containing foods, salt, fruit/vegetable-based products, and infant formula are presented. Double emulsions are highly effective at keeping their Fe content and display encapsulation efficiency (EE) > 88% although it decreases upon storage. The encapsulation by gel beads possesses several advantages including high EE, as well as reduced and great Fe release in gastric and duodenal conditions, respectively. Cereals, particularly bread and wheat, are common staple foods globally; they are very suitable for food fortification by Fe derivatives. Nevertheless, the majority of Fe in flour is available as salts of phytic acid (IP6) and phytates, reducing Fe bioavailability in the human body. The sourdough process degrades IP6 completely while Chorleywood Bread Making Process and conventional processes decrease it by 75% in comparison with whole meal flour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to utilise and optimise the millifluidic and dripping encapsulation technique to develop and characterise the oil-core capsules. Sodium alginate with Tween-20 (continuous phase) and sunflower oil (dispersed phase) were used in millifluidic system. After determining the surface and interfacial tensions and flow behaviour parameters, flow rates of phases and concentrations of alginate and Tween were optimised by the Taguchi method. The flow regime of droplets was also evaluated. Optimised millicapsules were characterised concerning morphology, dimension, encapsulation efficiency, SEM, FTIR and, DSC results. Dripping flow regime during droplet formation was observed. Reducing the interfacial tension between the continuous and dispersed phases resulted in about a 10.18% reduction in diameter. Optimised millicapsules depicted spherical shape (0.03 ± 0.01) with 3.95 ± 0.05 mm size and 97.5 ± 0.2% encapsulation efficiency. The FTIR and DSC results confirmed the entrapment of oil. Millifluidic and dripping method effectively encapsulated sunflower oil in core-shell capsules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospraying is a potential answer to the demands of nanoparticle fabrication such as scalability, reproducibility, and effective encapsulation in food nanotechnology. Electrospraying (and the related process of electrospinning) both show promise as a novel delivery vehicle for supplementary food compounds since the process can be carried out from an aqueous solution, at room temperature and without coagulation chemistry to produce matrices or particulates in the micro- and nano-range. The presentation of core materials at the nanoscale improves target ability to specific areas of the digestive tract and gives improved control of release rate. Adoption of these electrohydrodynamic atomization technologies will allow the industry to develop a wide range of novel high added value functional foods. To optimize production conditions and maximize throughput, a clear understanding of the mechanism of electrospraying is essential. This article presents a comprehensive review of the principles of electrospraying to produce nanoparticles suitable for food technology application, particularly for use in encapsulation and as nanocarriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospraying nano- and micro-particle fabrication is a one-step, non-invasive process, which has application in encapsulating of thermosensitive functional, bioactive materials and cells and making microhydrogels. This study investigates the effect of various electrospraying process parameters on the characteristics of calcium alginate microhydrogel particles. The alginate solution concentration, CaCl2coagulation bath concentration, voltage, nozzle diameter, distance between nozzle and collecting bath (D), alginate delivery pressure (∼H) were examined. The best droplet formation rate, in non-disperse dripping mode, was obtained at 8 kV using a 500 μm inner diameter nozzle tip,D = 8 cm,H = 20 cm. Morphology, swelling behaviour and texture analysis of the particles which were followed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirmed that 1.5–2% (w/v) CaCl2was the desirable concentration for hydrogels formation. Particle size range between 267 and 1500 μm could be obtained by the drip feed mode compared with 2.3–6 μm by the pressure-assisted electrospray through a coaxial head. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ObjectiveMethodsResultsConclusionsAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders in children. Evidence regarding the impact of probiotics supplementation in ADHD children is limited and controversial. Thus, this study aimed to assess the effect of probiotics as an adjunctive therapy with Ritalin among ADHD children and adolescents.This study was a triple-blind, randomized controlled trial of 60 Iranian ADHD patients aged four to sixteen. The participants were randomly assigned to receive probiotics supplements containing both Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC 1896™ (A7) and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis (BB-12®) (n = 30) or placebo (n = 30) for 8 weeks. ADHD symptoms were assessed using Conners’ Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) and Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA/CPT) at baseline and during the study.This study showed a significant decrease in the CPRS total score after 4 weeks of intervention in the probiotic group (baseline: 43.96 ± 21.52; fourth week: 37.22 ± 23.01; p = 0.01). However, no significant finding was found for the total score of the CPRS after 8 weeks. Moreover, at the end of the study, a significant increase was observed in score of auditory response control in the probiotic versus the placebo group (probiotic: 91.55 ± 16.69; placebo: 80.55 ± 17.43; p = 0.02).Probiotics supplementation with Ritalin may have some beneficial effects among ADHD children and adolescents, such as improving auditory response control and total score of CPRS. However, further clinical trials are required to clarify the impact of probiotics on ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]