FOOD-GRADE VITAMIN A NANOEMULSION: A STRATEGY FOR NUTRIENT FORTIFICATION AND SENSORY ENHANCEMENT

Abstract

Fortification of food and beverages with vitamin A is demanding due to its poor water solubility, oxidation and due to exposure to light and high temperature. The aim of this research work was to formulate an effective food-grade delivery system for the incorporation of vitamin A into food products and beverages. The formulation of food-grade vitamin A nanoemulsion was successfully prepared using mixed surfactant (Tween 80 and soya lecithin) in a 3:1 ratio and ultrasonic homogenization techniques for choosing the most stable formulation and to check the vitamin A efficiency entrapment. The results showed that the droplet sizes of the nanoemulsion was 131.4±0.2 and 131.8±0.1 nm on the 1^st and 30^th day, respectively, with the droplet growth ratio of 0.00304 and PDI score of 0.213±0.003 showing the stability of the nanoemulsion and uniformity in the droplet size distribution. At the end of 30 days of storage, the efficiency entrapment of vitamin A of the most stable nanoemulsion was 87.5±0.97% which was then incorporated in the variants of chakli. The sensory evaluation of the developed food products showed that variant A was most acceptable, in which all-purpose flour was enriched with Bengal gram dal flour, flaxseed flour and sesame seeds and the incorporation of different flours and vitamin A nanoemulsion helped in increasing the nutritive value of the variants and enhanced the vitamin A. These results suggest that mixed surfactant-based nanoemulsions are an effective delivery system for the incorporation of vitamin A into food and beverages to overcome the worldwide deficiency of vitamin A.