Phytosterols are lipophilic compounds contained in
plants and have several biological activities. The use of phytosterols
in food fortification is hampered due to their high
melting temperature, chalky taste, and low solubility in an
aqueous system. Also, phytosterols are easily oxidized and
are poorly absorbed by the human body. Formulation engineering
coupled with microencapsulation could be used to
overcome these problems. The aim of this study was to investigate
the feasibility of encapsulating soybean oil enriched
with phytosterols by spray-drying using ternary mixtures of
health-promoting ingredients, whey protein isolate (WPI), inulin,
and chitosan as carrier agents. The effect of different
formulations and spray-drying conditions on the
microencapsules properties, encapsulation efficiency, surface
oil content, and oxidation stability were studied. It was found
that spherical WPI-inulin-chitosan phytosterol-enriched soybean
oil microcapsules with an average size below 50 μm
could be produced with good encapsulation efficiency
(85%), acceptable level of surface oil (11%), and water activity
(0.2–0.4) that meet industrial requirements. However, the
microcapsules showed very low oxidation stability with peroxide
values reaching 101.7 meq O2/kg of oil just after
production, and further investigations and optimization are
required before any industrial application of this encapsulated
system.

EB00000002981K

Available

• Development and Characterization of Phytosterol-Enriched Oil Microcapsules for Foodstuff Application