Delivery System for Functional Food Ingredients — A Review

Abstract

The consumer interest in health-promoting foods is almost assuredly increasing, perhaps dramatically because of the increased health consciousness of the modern people and renewed interest in exploring medicinal benefits from the natural origins. Works have been carried out for development of functional foods or value added foods, which will be available on the near days to the consumers. The market of functional foods shows great potential and has continued to gain unprecedented momentum, despite the complex processing challenges of developing foods fortified with bioactive ingredients. The functionality of active substances often is declined during processing and storage, and during passage to the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Careful screening of functional ingredients for their technological suitability and product compatibility allows selecting best manufacturing and food technology characteristics. Among the different techniques and/or interventions, microencapsulation provides a mean to separate the active substances, thereby, providing greater protection from extreme conditions. Microencapsulation has been investigated to be the best accessible technology to preserve the potency of active substances to be ultimately delivered into the GIT. Certainly, advances in stability, viability and possible applications would give manufacturers an exciting option for producing new and bioactive foods.