Microencapsulation of Oil Using Selected Soluble Fractions of Dietary Fiber as the Wall Material.

The aim of the study was to prove the usefulness of microencapsulation of oil regarding its vulnerability to oxidation caused by oxygen, temperature, and other factors. Pectin, inulin, gum arabic, and β-glucan, each of them mixed with maltodextrin, were used as wall materials and their appropriability to reduce oxidation of the core material was examined. Microcapsules were prepared by spray drying, which is the most commonly used and very effective method. The research confirmed results known from literature, that gum arabic and inulin are most proper wall materials, because they ensure small oxidation increase during storage (4.59 and 5.92 eq/kg after seven days respectively) and also provide high efficiency of process (83.93% and 91.74%, respectively). Pectin turned out to be the least appropriate polysaccharide because it is not able to assure sufficient protection for the core material, in this case oil, due to low efficiency (61.36%) and high oxidation (16.11 eq/kg after seven days). β-glucan occurred to be the coating material with relatively high encapsulation efficiency (79.26%) but high humidity (4.97%) which could negatively influence the storage of microcapsules. The use of polysaccharides in microencapsulation, except performing the role of wall material, has the advantage of increasing the amount of dietary fiber in human diet.