Encapsulation of curcumin in electrosprayed gelatin microspheres enhances its bioaccessibility and widens its uses in food applications

Curcumin has uses as a food colorant and functional ingredient, these uses being restrained owing to its low solubility in water, which limits its dispersion in food matrices and its bioaccessibility. Curcumin-gelatin microparticles produced by electrohydrodynamic atomization were developed to overcome these problems. Microparticles with a size up to 1.2 mu m in diameter, in which curcumin was in the amorphous state, were obtained. Both curcumin water solubility and bioaccessibility were significantly improved by encapsulation (38.6 and 11.3-fold higher than commercial curcumin, respectively). A gellified fish product was used to evaluate the coloring capacity of microencapsulated curcumin, finding a better dispersion for microencapsulated curcumin than for commercial one. However, curcumin bioaccessibility was similar owing to curcumin solubilization into the protein matrix. In spite of this, a protective effect of curcumin was observed, as the antioxidant activity of the bioaccessible fraction of the gel supplemented with microencapsulated curcumin was higher. Industrial relevance: Curcumin is a potential natural food coloring and functional ingredient which impairs an attractive yellowish-orange color to food and possesses a wide range of biological activities. However its use in food is restrained owing to its low solubility in water. Curcumin encapsulation using a soluble polymer is a promising strategy to widen the use of curcumin as an ingredient in the food industry. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.