Freeze drying for microencapsulation of α-linolenic acid rich oil: A functional ingredient from Lepidium sativum seeds

Azza Naik, V. Meda, S. S. Lele

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Lipids rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are of great importance to the food industry. However, due to unsaturation they are highly prone to rancidity, thereby presenting an enormous technological challenge. Emulsification and subsequent microencapsulation of oil forms a protective micro-environment for these bioactives. Further, freeze drying of emulsified lipids is used to enhance shelf-life of the dietary targets. In the current study, α-linolenic acid (ALA) rich oil from Lepidium sativum seed was stabilized through microencapsulation by freeze drying. O/W emulsion was prepared using a combination of gum ghatti, gum arabic, and soy protein isolate. Thereafter induced coacervates were lyophilized by the batch method in a tray dryer. The encapsulation procedure was optimized by the central composite design, through variation of parameters such as the ratio between gum and soy protein isolate (SPI), wall and core and the speed of homogenization. The response was measured in terms of microencapsulation efficiency (MEE) with the maxima of 81.11% for the parameter values of Gum:SPI at 0.32, Wall:Core at 2 and homogenization speed of 10000rpm. The prepared emulsion was characterized through ζ-potential, viscosity, and droplet size measurements while the encapsulated product was deliberated through Raman spectroscopy and aw evaluations. Practical applications: Dietary requirement of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) is seldom met by a vegetarian diet and therefore for the benefit of the vegetarian population, novel food products incorporating vegetarian PUFA need to be developed. However, rancidity is a major problem encountered while working on unsaturated molecules. Thus to gain maximum benefit from these functional lipids one needs to design stable bioavailable ingredients. With this in mind, the focus of the current study was formulation and process optimization to obtain encapsulated oil. Freeze drying process for microencapsulation leads to superior quality capsules due to the low temperature conditions. In this way L. sativum seed oil was explored for the first time to develop α-linolenic acid rich bioactive ingredient.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)837-846
Number of pages10
JournalEuropean Journal of Lipid Science and Technology
Volume116
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Encapsulation
  • Freeze drying
  • Lepidium sativum
  • α-Linolenic acid

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