Microencapsulação do óleo sacha inchi por coacervação complexa empregando biopolímeros

Abstract

Linolenic acid (omega-3) is a bioactive compound of relevance in the food industry because of its beneficial health properties. However, this compound is sensitive to extrinsic factors (high temperatures, presence of oxygen, exposure to light and the presence of metals) causing oxidation. Microencapsulation becomes a promising alternative for protection of these bioactive compounds. Among the methods of microencapsulation, complex coacervation has advantages such as: best preparation conditions, biopolymers as possible wall materials and high encapsulation efficiency. The objective of this work was to study the use of the complex coacervation technique to microencapsulate the sacha inchi oil using the biopolymers ovalbumin, pectin, tannic acid and alginate in the ratios (1: 1, 1: 2, 1: 4, 2: 1 and 4: 1). The ovalbumin, pectin and tannic acid system showed to be efficient as wall materials, showed high sacha inchi oil encapsulation efficiency (78.1%) and as microcapsules presented high thermal resistance when compared to ovalbumin alone. The ovalbumin and sodium alginate system proved to be efficient as wall materials, exhibited high sacha inchi oil encapsulation efficiency (94.1%), as microcapsules were cross-linked with CaCl2 and presented a reinforced structure. In addition, they showed high efficiency of encapsulation of the omega-3 present in sacha inchi oil and were not observed for the gastric encapsulation and simulation process. These studies have suggested that wall materials used for microencapsulation of efficient and can be used for microencapsulation of bioactive compounds.