Microencapsulation of probiotics envisaged for folate production in human intestine environment

Abstract

[Excerpt] A balanced nutrition is a great concern in Human health anda preventive way to avoid diseases. Folate, a B-complex vitamin, is crucial in a significant group of cellular metabolic reactions. The daily intake of folate recommended for an adult varies between 200 and 400 µg; these values double in the case of pregnant women. The intake of folate is inefficient because its chemical fonns can be extremely unstable in food products and after ingcstion. The consumption of probiotics that produce this vitamin directly in the intestine could improve folate intake. However, the survival ratio of probiotics to gastric conditions is a problem than needs to be tackled. Severa! technologies can be applied aiming at probiotic encapsulation and eacb of tbem provides microcapsules with different characteristics in terms of particles' size and type of capsule. Emulsification allows the production of a wide particle size range from 0.2 to 5000 µm, whereas extrusion yields a smaller range size but does not provide particles under 300 µm [1]. Considering the envisaged application of probiolics into foods, this study was focused in particles smaller than l 00 µm, produced by microemulsification techniques, to avoid modifying food texture. [...]