The use of arabic gum, maltodextrin and surfactants in the microencapsulation of phytosterols by spray drying

Abstract

The addition of phytosterols in aqueous-based food matrices is challenging because of their poor physicochemical properties (non-water soluble and hydrophobic powder). By using spray drying, phytosterols microparticleswere formulated and developed in thiswork. Arabic gum,maltodextrin and one of two different surfactantswere thoroughly studied aswall materials. Increasing concentrations ofTween 20 (T20) or sodiumlauryl sulfate (SDS), from 0.1 to 2.65% w/v, were evaluated. The feed suspension characteristics (viscosity, interfacial properties and particle size distribution), process yield (PY), encapsulation efficiency (EE), phytosterols retention (R) and size of the microparticles were analyzed. The presence of surfactants in the suspension to be spray dried has significant effects on the studied responses. T20 led to process yields around 65% (2% w/v surfactant concentration). On the other hand, the microparticles obtained using 2% w/v of SDS were the best in terms of EE (about 50%), R (closeto 40%) and particle size (5.89 μm), being the PY acceptable (almost 55%). According to the open literature,which indicates that average particle sizes lower than 25 μm favor the phytosterols bioavailability, the microparticlesobtained in this work are promising for phytosterols delivery.