Encapsulation of Essential Oils

Ano: 2021

en Functionality of cyclodextrins in encapsulation for food applications. Thao M. Ho, Hidefumi Yoshii, Keiji Terao, Bhesh R. Bhandari, Editors. Springer (ISBN 978-3-030-80055-0; ISBN 978-3-030-80056-7 (eBook); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80056-7).

 

Autores/as: Rakmai, J.; Mejuto, J.C.; Sang, Y.; Jafari, S.M.; Xiao, J.; Simal-Gandara, J.

 

Essential oils are natural volatile aromatic oily liquids obtained from several parts of aromatic plants such as herbs and spices, citrus plants, edible plants and flowering plants. They are derived from complex metabolic pathways in order to protect the plant organisms from diverse pathogenic microorganisms and pests. Essential oils contain three major groups of chemical components including terpenes, terpenoids and phenylpropanoids. Being from natural resources, many essential oils are considered as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and they are accepted to be applied in organic food instead of synthetic chemical additives. However, there are a few drawbacks limiting their applications. EOs are practically insoluble in aqueous systems, they usually have strong lipophilicity and volatility. Additionally, their components particularly sensitive to environment such as oxygen, light and temperature. Besides their favor is also an important point to confine applications of EOs. Therefore, encapsulation of essential oils can overcome these limitations. Inclusion complex formation with cyclodextrins for several applications has been widely reported with various preparation techniques. The release kinetics of essential oils from their complexes can be illustrated by mathematical models such as zero-order, first-order and Avrami’s equation kinetics. Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity and storage time affect their release from complexes have been reported but these factors can be adjusted to control their release rate. In term of food production, essential oils and their inclusion complex or encapsulated form have been used as natural flavoring agents, natural preservatives, and bioactive components for functional food and active packaging for food products. Although there is still a challenge for commercialization because of higher product cost, it can be popular among the customers who are interested in organic products, whose demand is increasing steadily.

 

 

Autor/a:
Jesús Simal Gándara

Tipo de publicación:
Capítulos de libros