Food & Beverages

Biography

Biography: Kátia Gomes de Lima Araujo

Abstract

Carotenoids are an important group of natural pigments with specific applications in food due to their color and biological properties like antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic and immune-modulator. The demand of carotenoids as a nutraceutical compounds has triggered the research to develop methods for improving carotenoids users. Carotenoids exhibit high lipophilicity, low aqueous solubility and sensitivity to air and light. A proven alternative for increasing the solubility, stability, and bioavailability of lipophilic organic molecules is their inclusion in the cavity of cyclodextrins. Whilst the external surfaces are hydrophilic, the internal cavities of cyclodextrins are relatively hydrophobic; these properties allow them to form stable inclusion complexes with several interesting compounds for health products. Our research group focuses on production and characterization of carotenoids-cyclodextrins complexes, evaluating changes on water solubility and stability in front of environmental conditions related to food processing and storage. Our results on inclusion complex production, based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), particle size distribution and Zeta potential, allow to determine if a guest molecule is incorporated inside the cyclodextrin cavity. In addition, water solubility as well as color stability studies allows to determine their potential as food colorants and the effects of environment light, temperature and storage time on the carotenoid-cyclodextrin complexes. Antioxidant capacity evaluation has shown that inclusion complexes may have higher antiradical activity in relation to the carotenoids. Further studies aiming to determine biological activities of carotenoid-cyclodextrins complexes are needed and will help to know the real potential of using carotenoid-complexes as food ingredients.