Encapsulation of phenolic compounds within food-grade carriers and delivery systems by pH-driven method: a systematic review

Abstract

In comparison to conventional encapsulation methods of phenolic compounds (PCs), pH-driven method is green, simple and requires low energy consumption. It has a huge potential for industrial applications, and can overcome more effectively the aqueous solubility, stability and bioavailability issues related to PCs by changing pH to induce the encapsulation of PCs. This review aims to shed light on the use of pH-driven method for encapsulating PCs. The preparation steps and principles governing pH-driven method using various carriers and delivery systems are provided. A comparison of pH-driven with other methods is also presented. To circumvent the drawbacks of pH-driven method, improvement strategies are proposed. The essence of pH-driven method relies simultaneously on alkalization and acidification to bind PCs and carriers. It is used for the development of nanoemulsions, liposomes, edible films, nanoparticles, nanogels and functional foods. As a result of pH-driven method, PCs-loaded carriers may have smaller size, high encapsulation efficiency, more sustained-release and good bioavailability, due mainly to effects of pH change on the structure and properties of PCs as well as carriers. Finally, modification of wall materials and type of acidifier are considered as efficient approaches to improve the pH-driven method.

Keywords:

• Carriers and delivery systems
• encapsulation
• pH-driven method
• phenolic compounds
• release characteristics and bioavailability

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence this work.

Additional information

Funding

The review was funded by Key Research & Development project of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BE2020324), Key Research & Development Project of Yangzhou City (Grant No. YZ2020043) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20210750).