Packing food with nutrients, vitamins and other supplements to improve our health sounds like a simple enough idea, but protecting them as they pass through the digestive system isn't all that easy. While various methods have been employed to encase compounds for more effective delivery, a new technique is showing great promise as a means of keeping them intact. Scientists claim that coating the ingredients in nanofibers created through a process called electrospinning can provide a better safeguard, and could lead to delivery of improved health supplements.
Electrospinning is a technique we have seen in various forms across a number of areas of scientific research. It involves drawing a fluid through an electric field which serves to break the liquid down into microscopic fibers, typically on the micro- or nanoscale. It has been used in the development of dissolving tampons designed to protect against HIV, antibacterial materials and a potential replacement for scar tissue in the heart.
Its promise in the food industry stems from the fact that it can be carried out at room temperature using wet materials, and doesn't require overly complex chemistry. According to scientists from England's University of Lincoln, this gives it an advantage over existing methods of encapsulating supplements, which can damage the structure and the bacteria, as it better caters to the sensitivity of the materials.
The upshot of this is a potentially improved way of controlling the release of chemicals in the body, as the supplements can be better protected while being produced and also as they make their way through the digestive system.
Despite this promise, however, it is still early days. Dr Nick Tucker from the School of Engineering at the University of Lincoln and leader of the study, is looking to build partnerships in the industry to learn more about the possibilities. He says work is needed to advance both the electrospun nanofibers themselves and ways of actually integrating them with foodstuffs.
The research was published in the journal Food Hydrocolloids.
Source: University of Lincoln
Have people forgotten the basics, or are we at that critical crossroad whereby we can no longer find pure natural ingredients due to our over pollution of chemical additives into the air, earth, & water?
Non-smoker one daily coffee with carbon filtered water, no tea, no alcohol for past 9 months due to 11 pancreatitis attacks. Watching carefully what I take in since gall bladder has been removed.
I have already been contaminated probably beyond natural repair, so the thought of further impurities over coating natural nutrients, & vitamins as they travel through the digestive track makes little sense. How will they have a chance to be absorbed when the bodies natural reaction is to counter-attack unnatural substances?
I have been eating an apple a day, for the past 40 or so years, yet simple washing doesn't mean that the surface or sub surface contaminants have been reduced or removed.
"...looking to build partnerships...", i.e., funding?
I have eaten organic for 58 years. At 72 I am still learning about healthy eating. The only supplement I take is "Cardio-C" (Linus Pauling's formula) twice a day. I drink green tea instead of coffee except for cold brew, medium roast, organic, fresh ground used to flavor non-dairy shakes made with raw cacao & frozen fruit, or maple water cubes.
Knowledge is key. I never eat anything before carefully evaluating the ingredients, e.g., no refined sugars, flour, grains/rice.