Abstract:
Vitamin E (VE) and coenzyme Q, namely ubiquinone (CoQ10) and ubiquinol (CoQ10H2), are lipophilic nutraceuticals, which regarded as potent antioxidants. CoQ10H2, the reduced form of CoQ10, is gaining more attention recently, thanks to its excellent reducing property. CoQ10, CoQ10H2, and VE perform synergistically as strong antioxidants in vivo. The interactions between these antioxidants outside the human body are thus, worth exploring. However, their implementation to most food systems is restricted since they have relatively low bioavailability due to their hydrophobic nature, and instability to light, heat, and oxygen exposure. Microencapsulation is a novel food processing method, which incorporates spray drying as a particle method to stabilize the encapsulated material and facilitate its digestion. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the oxidation behavior of the VE+CoQ10 and VE+CoQ10H2 system, stabilized by octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA)-modified starch, in the form of original emulsions (30% solid content; 4:1wall / core ratio) and the subsequent microcapsules during accelerated storage trial (55°C oven, 15% relative humidity). The ratio of soy oil, VE and coenzyme Q in the core oil phase was 90:1:9. Systems containing solely VE, CoQ10 and CoQ10H2, were also tested as control groups. The physical characteristics such as the mean droplet size, PDI, water activity, and encapsulation efficiency was utilized for the evaluation of optimal processing conditions. The oxidation behavior was represented by peroxide value, p-anisidine value, and DPPH antioxidant capacity. Besides, in vitro digestion was conducted on VE+CoQ10 and VE+CoQ10H2 microcapsules for the bioaccessibility evaluation. It was discovered that the overall antioxidant capacity of various systems ranked as VE+CoQ10H2 > CoQ10H2 > VE+CoQ10 > CoQ10 > VE. The oxidation stability of various systems ranked as VE+CoQ10H2 > CoQ10H2 > VE > VE+CoQ10 > CoQ10. The synergistic effect was found solid for the VE+CoQ10H2 systems, however, ambiguous for the VE+CoQ10 systems. The in vitro digestion showed that co-encapsulation is an efficient way of delivering VE and CoQ10 as well as VE and CoQ10H2 simultaneously. In summary, the present study revealed the advantages and potential implementation of the co-encapulated VE, CoQ10, and CoQ10H2 in the food industry.