Food fortification is one of the cost-effective tool enabling people to increase their nutrient intake. Functional foods that contain bioactive components may provide desirable health benefits beyond basic nutrition and play important roles in the prevention of life-style related diseases. However, stable and bioactive ingredients are necessary for the food and nutraceutical industry. The particle technology applied to food derivatives and by-products involves several aspects from the stability and size reduction processes to modification of the solubility of the active ingredients producing easy handling powder forms readily soluble in water.The present work reports on the encapsulation of Bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso) and Bitter orange (Citrus aurantium L.) juices recovered as Citrus industrial by-products. Citrus juices are valuable source of antioxidant polyphenols having health beneficial properties, mainly in protecting tissues against oxygen free radicals damages, mutagenesis and lipid peroxidation. Flavonoids are suggested as dietary agents in the prevention of many degenerative diseases being attractive materials for the food and nutraceutical industry. The basic problem associated with the recycling of fresh juice is that, after the recovery and waiting for a possible re-use, juice can undergo to functional and organoleptic alterations, preventing its use. In the frame of our research on Citrus species, the spray drying technique and a polymeric carrier based on Sodium-Carboxymethylcellulose (C) and Lactose (L), food grade excipients, have been proposed as a microencapsulation system to enhance the juice (J) shelf life in order to use it as a dietary supplement or to enrich foods in flavonoids. The lactose used in the formulation has also been recovered, through the anti-solvent method, from industrial dairy wastes (fresh milk remained unsold). The engineered microcarriers showed high juice loading efficiency (94.6%) and small particle size (d50 3.52 μm) with satisfactory process yields (70-75%). The CLJ powder resulted handling and stable over time under harsh storage conditions. As the solubility in water, CLJ showed a high dissolution rate of the encapsulated juice. In the view of the increased consumer demand for functional foods, CLJ was used to produce a yogurt enriched with high flavonoid antioxidant content. Sensory analysis showed that CLJ microparticles could be enclosed in the base-product (whole milk yogurt) without altering physical stability (up to 28 days), masking natural juice bitterness and flavour and inhibiting final product colour change observed when the juice is directly added in the yogurt. Therefore, this innovative technological approach seems to be able to produce stable ingredients of easier manipulation with high technical characteristics which may be directly used as dietary supplements or enclosed as extra-functionalproducts in foods enhancing nutraceutical properties.

Food supplements based on up-cycling of Citrus juice by-products

SANSONE, FRANCESCA;MENCHERINI, TERESA;PICERNO, PATRIZIA;LAURO, Maria Rosaria;PEPE, GIACOMO;AQUINO, Rita Patrizia
2015-01-01

Abstract

Food fortification is one of the cost-effective tool enabling people to increase their nutrient intake. Functional foods that contain bioactive components may provide desirable health benefits beyond basic nutrition and play important roles in the prevention of life-style related diseases. However, stable and bioactive ingredients are necessary for the food and nutraceutical industry. The particle technology applied to food derivatives and by-products involves several aspects from the stability and size reduction processes to modification of the solubility of the active ingredients producing easy handling powder forms readily soluble in water.The present work reports on the encapsulation of Bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso) and Bitter orange (Citrus aurantium L.) juices recovered as Citrus industrial by-products. Citrus juices are valuable source of antioxidant polyphenols having health beneficial properties, mainly in protecting tissues against oxygen free radicals damages, mutagenesis and lipid peroxidation. Flavonoids are suggested as dietary agents in the prevention of many degenerative diseases being attractive materials for the food and nutraceutical industry. The basic problem associated with the recycling of fresh juice is that, after the recovery and waiting for a possible re-use, juice can undergo to functional and organoleptic alterations, preventing its use. In the frame of our research on Citrus species, the spray drying technique and a polymeric carrier based on Sodium-Carboxymethylcellulose (C) and Lactose (L), food grade excipients, have been proposed as a microencapsulation system to enhance the juice (J) shelf life in order to use it as a dietary supplement or to enrich foods in flavonoids. The lactose used in the formulation has also been recovered, through the anti-solvent method, from industrial dairy wastes (fresh milk remained unsold). The engineered microcarriers showed high juice loading efficiency (94.6%) and small particle size (d50 3.52 μm) with satisfactory process yields (70-75%). The CLJ powder resulted handling and stable over time under harsh storage conditions. As the solubility in water, CLJ showed a high dissolution rate of the encapsulated juice. In the view of the increased consumer demand for functional foods, CLJ was used to produce a yogurt enriched with high flavonoid antioxidant content. Sensory analysis showed that CLJ microparticles could be enclosed in the base-product (whole milk yogurt) without altering physical stability (up to 28 days), masking natural juice bitterness and flavour and inhibiting final product colour change observed when the juice is directly added in the yogurt. Therefore, this innovative technological approach seems to be able to produce stable ingredients of easier manipulation with high technical characteristics which may be directly used as dietary supplements or enclosed as extra-functionalproducts in foods enhancing nutraceutical properties.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4652976
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