Microencapsulation of Vitamins in Food Applications to Prevent Losses in Processing and Storage: A Review

The food consumption trends have long since shifted from demanding simple calories and essential nutrients in order to support the basic human body functions to demanding a balanced nutrition supply in order to achieve optimal health. Vitamins play a vital role in human health, yet are often lost or destroyed during food processing before they reach consumers, as they are highly prone to degradation by environmental factors. Microencapsulation technology is a technology aiming to protect sensitive compounds from environmental elements. It is widely used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries but its application in food production are few. This article reviews microencapsulation studies conducted in food with a specific focus on protecting vitamins from processing and stage losses. We found that although current technologies have the potential to create vitamin microcapsules, none could meet all the criteria for a successful product. To develop suitable vitamin microcapsules which are processing stable, digestible and safe to consume, we recommend further studies to focus on seeking and developing porous and thermal stable carbohydrate or protein based wall materials derived from natural food ingredients.