CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Lysolecithin obtained after phospholipid hydrolysis exhibits interesting applications in food. In this regard, has been reported that sunflower hydrolyzed lecithin (SHL) present enhanced functional properties over native ones. On the other hand, the use of biopolymer combinations to improve their individual characteristics associated with the retention and protection of microencapsulated active compounds such as omega-3 rich oils constitutes a challenge. In this context, double-layer chia oil (~64%ALA) emulsions 5:95 wt/wt were prepared through the electrostatic deposition of chitosan (cationic character) onto hydrolyzed sunflower lecithin (anionic character) coated droplets (pH 3), microfluidization at 1000 bar and the addition of maltodextrin (Mx) or maltodextrin: chia mucilage (Mx: CM 90:10) as structural materials. The double-layer microcapsules were obtained by spray-drying of these emulsions with an efficiency of ~ 97%. The powder characterization resulted in aw and moisture contents of ~0.21-0.24 and ~1.45-1.99%, respectively. The use of the Mx: CM combination led to an increase of the D3,2 value (0.15 from 7.25 µm) and a decrease on the ζ potential (+43 to +38). Additionally, the color parameters resulted in 94.9 and 91.8, -0.1 and +0.1, 7.9 and 7.7 for L*, a* and b*, respectively. The use of SHL as emulsifying agent and the combination of biopolymers Mx-CM would be efficient in the development of chia oil multilayer microcapsules.