title: Whey microbeads as a matrix for the encapsulation and immobilisation of riboflavin and peptides.
abstract: Whey microbeads manufactured using a cold-set gelation process, have been used to encapsulate bioactives. In this study whey microbeads were used to encapsulate riboflavin using 2 methods. Riboflavin was added to the microbead forming solution however diffusional losses of riboflavin occurred during the subsequent bead preparation. To overcome riboflavin loss, a second approach to 'load' whey microbeads by soaking in riboflavin was assessed. Significantly (p⩽0.05) higher concentrations of riboflavin were obtained in 'loaded' microbeads (361 mg/L) compared to riboflavin added to the microbead forming solution (48 mg/L). Riboflavin uptake by the microbeads was shown to be via a partition process. As partitioning is often driven by hydrophobic interactions the uptake of amino acids and peptides of varying hydrophobicities by the microbeads was examined. The % encapsulation increased with increasing molecule hydrophobicity with a maximum of 89% encapsulation. Whey microbeads are well suited to act as sorbents for encapsulation.
authors.affiliation: Food for Health Ireland, UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: Graham J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.affiliation: Food for Health Ireland, UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: Thelma
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.affiliation: Food for Health Ireland, UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: Jean Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Jacquier
authors.affiliation: Food for Health Ireland, UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Food for Health Ireland, UCD Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: dolores.oriordan@ucd.ie.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dolores O'Riordan
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D002122:Calcium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008863:Microspheres; D008894:Milk Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D010455:Peptides / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D012256:Riboflavin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D008894:Milk Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D002122:Calcium Chloride; D012256:Riboflavin
keywords: Encapsulation; Hydrophobic; Microbeads; Peptide; Whey protein