Utilization of free and microencapsulated Rosmarinus oficinalis L. extracts as bioactives ingredientes for new functional foods developmen
Conference Paper
Overview
Overview
abstract
Currently, many consumers search for food with functional characteristics beyond their nutritional
properties. Thus, the concept of functional food becomes a hot topic, allowing the obtaining of health
benefits, including disease prevention. In this context, plants are recognized as sources of a wide range of
bioactives, mainly phenolic compounds. In particular, the Rosmarinus officina/is L., commonly referred as
rosemary, has several phenolic compounds with different bioactive properties such as antioxidant, antiinflammatory
and antimicrobial activities, among others [!]. Hence, this plant has great potential for
incorporation into foods in order to confer bioactivity to the final products. However, it should be
highlighted that the bioactive compounds if exposed to adverse environments, for example: light,
moisture, extreme pH, storage, food processing conditions, can be degraded leading to the consequent loss
of bioactivity [2]. The microencapsulation is an alternative to overcome this problematic of bioactive
compounds, as also to ensure controlled release, or target deliver to a specific site [3].
In this work, lyophilized rosemary aqueous extract prepared by in:'usion was used as a functional
ingredient for cottage cheeses, after proving that it possesses, both higher content in phenolic compounds
and higher antioxidant activity, comparatively with the corresponding hydroethanolic extract. The
rosemary aqueous extract revealed, for example, a DPPH scavenging activity with an EC50 value of
73.44±0.54j!g/mL and presented as main phenolic compound the caffeic acid dimer, commonly named as
rosmarinic acid.
For the functionalized cottage cheeses, a decrease of bioactivity was observed after seven days under
storage in fridge, when the extracts were incorporated in its free form. Therefore, to preserve the
antioxidant activity, the rosemary aqueous extract was efficiently microencapsulated by using an
atomization/coagulation technique and alginate as the matrix material and thereafter incorporated into the
cottage cheeses. The final microspheres showed a size, estimated by OM using a magnification of I OOx,
ranging between 51.1 and 122.6 J!m and an encapsulation efficiency, estimated through an indirect
method, approaching 100%.
Overall, the introduction of both free and microencapsulated extracts did not change the nutritional value
of cottage cheeses, providing bioactivity that was more preserved with microencapsulated extracts putting
in evidence the importance of using microencapsulation to develop effective functional foods.
