Fluidized bed coating of inert cores with a lipid-based system loaded with a polyphenol-rich Rosmarinus officinalis extract.

Herbal extracts are used in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors, e.g., as natural antioxidants, herbal remedies and active phyto-ingredients. Herbal extract constituents can be lost or suffer degradation due to environmental factors and microbial spoilage. Encapsulation technologies may overcome these limitations and improve product properties. Rosmarinus officinalis is an aromatic plant with proven antioxidant properties linked to their high content of phenolic compounds. In this work, the feasibility of fluidization technology for coating of microcrystalline cellulose cores (Celphere) with a lipid-based system loaded with polyphenol-rich extract of R. officinalis was studied. The effects of the processing conditions and encapsulating composition on system performance and product properties were evaluated. The coating efficiency ranged from 64.3 to 79.2; although the differences did not show statistical significance (p < 0.05). The percentage of agglomerates in the product ranged from 0.2 to 47.7 and was impacted by processing conditions. Higher retention efficiencies were observed for the monitored marker compounds (caffeic, rosmarinic and carnosic acids and carnosol), reaching values higher than 70%, except for caffeic acid in the composition added with gum arabic (-60%). Therefore, the fluidization is an effective and promising technology able to engineer innovative granular products loaded with herbal phytochemical compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]