Wood hemicelluloses as effective wall materials for spray-dried microcapsulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich oils

Thao M Ho; Mari Lehtonen; Heikki Räikkönen; Petri O Kilpeläinen; Kirsi S Mikkonen

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112333

Wood hemicelluloses as effective wall materials for spray-dried microcapsulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich oils

Food Res Int. 2023 Feb:164:112333. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112333. Epub 2022 Dec 20.

Authors

Thao M Ho¹, Mari Lehtonen², Heikki Räikkönen³, Petri O Kilpeläinen⁴, Kirsi S Mikkonen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66 FIN-00014 HU, Finland; Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65 FIN-00014 HU, Finland. Electronic address: minh.ho@helsinki.fi.
² Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66 FIN-00014 HU, Finland.
³ Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 56 FIN-00014 HU, Finland.
⁴ Biorefinery and Bioproducts, Production Systems Unit - Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Viikinkaari 9, FI-00790 Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66 FIN-00014 HU, Finland; Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65 FIN-00014 HU, Finland.

PMID: 36737926
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112333

Abstract

The most commonly-used and effective wall materials (WMs) for spray-dried microencapsulation of bioactive compounds are either costly, or derived from unsustainable sources, which lead to an increasing demand for alternatives derived from sustainable and natural sources, with low calories and low cost. Wood hemicelluloses obtained from by-products of forest industries appear to be attractive alternatives as they have been reported to have good emulsifying properties, low viscosity at high concentrations, high heat stability and low heat transfer. Here, we investigated the applicability of spruce galactoglucomannans (GGM) and birch glucuronoxylans (GX), to encapsulate flaxseed oil (FO, polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich plant based oil) by spray drying; and the results were compared to those of the highly effective WM, gum Arabic (GA). It was found that depending on solid ratios of WM:FO (1:1, 3:1 and 5:1), encapsulation efficiency of GGM was 88-96%, and GX was 63-98%. At the same encapsulation ratio, both GGM and GX had higher encapsulation efficiency than GA (49-92%) due to their ability to produce feed emulsions with a smaller oil droplet size and higher physical stability. In addition, the presence of phenolic residues in GGM and GX powders enabled them to have a greater ability to protect oil from oxidation during spray drying than GA. Physiochemical properties of encapsulated powders including thermal properties, morphology, molecular structure, particle size and water adsorption intake are also investigated. The study has explored a new value-added proposition for wood hemicelluloses which can be used as effective WMs in the production of microcapsules of polyunsaturated fatty acid-rich oils for healthy and functional products in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Keywords: Birch glucuronoxylan; Flaxseed oil; Spray-dried microencapsulation; Spruce galactoglucomannan; Wood hemicellulose.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Desiccation* / methods
Fatty Acids, Unsaturated
Plant Oils / chemistry
Powders
Wood*

Substances

hemicellulose
Powders
Plant Oils
Fatty Acids, Unsaturated