Microencapsulation of Ceratonia siliqua L. extract for food purposes: Effect of extract/alginate ratio
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resumo
Human health, nutritional status and well being can be enhanced through consumption of foods
containing specifically desired nutrients and bioactive agents [1]. Popularly known as St John’s Bread,
Ceratonia siliqua L. (carob) has a long history of use in food (over 4000 years). It has a good nutritional
value and its polyphenolic extract shows high antioxidant capacity and even higher antiradical activity
than well-aged red wines. Its reducing power can also be four-fold higher than many well known potent
antioxidant agents such as gallic acid, caffeic acid and catechin [2]. Nevertheless, preparing high quality
nutritious food is critically dependent on availability of effective delivery systems. Such systems should
preserve the specific nutritional, biological, chemical and functional properties of the sensitive
constituent, and should effectively release the compounds, in a desired mode, after ingestion.
Nowadays, the most promising technology that can allow overcoming the stated difficulties is
microencapsulation [1]. In this context, a hydroethanolic (80:20, v/v) extract obtained from carob pulp
by ultrasound extraction was microencapsulated for further use in the development of functional yogurts.
