Evaluation of the functionality of particles loaded with vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)

• Grant number: 22/12269-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: February 20, 2023
• End date: May 15, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Technology
• Principal Investigator: Carmen Sílvia Fávaro Trindade
• Grantee: Carmen Sílvia Fávaro Trindade
• Host Investigator: José Manuel Lorenzo Rodriguez
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Centro Tecnolóxico da Carne (CTC), Spain

Abstract

Vitamin D (VitD) deficiency is a public health problem affecting millions of people worldwide. Even in sunny countries, such as Brazil and Spain, VitD deficiency is highly prevalent. Further, other than sunlight, there are few food sources of this vitamin to fulfill its recommended daily amount (400-800 IU per day). Therefore, to meet the daily requirements of VitD, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized food fortification as the most efficient and safest strategy to reduce the prevalence of VitD deficiency. However, the addition of VitD into food products is not a simple task for food processors. There are many challenges involved in VitD fortification, such as homogeneity in the food matrix, vitamin degradation during the food process and storage, and interactions with other components of the food matrix - resulting in sensory changes-, thus affecting food acceptability and marketability. Some microencapsulation technologies had already proved to be efficient to overcome these problems, reducing the loss of bioactive compounds during food process and storage; however, they are often expensive and complex techniques where particles' functionality has not been analyzed. So, this project aims to encapsulate VitD by vacuum impregnation process using brewer's spent yeast (BSY) as a carrier and to evaluate the functionality of the particles loaded with VitD3 by applying it to a model food system - a popular meat product, that is processed under mild conditions. Thus, it is expected to obtain a low-cost, nutritious vehicle that contributes to clean labeling, which disperses in the meat product without negatively altering its sensory characteristics and confers stability to VitD during the processing and storage of the product, besides obtaining more nutritious food, with the potential to minimize the prevalence of deficiency in VitD. In addition to the scientific aspect inherent to this project, with the realization of this internship, it is expected to experience opportunities to establish new partnerships for future projects and student exchange, for instance. (AU)