Estudio preliminar de microencapsulación de aceite de calabaza amarga

Abstract

Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis (Lour) Spreng.) is a perennial plant of the family Cucurbitaceae, which fruits are recognized as having the highest content of beta-carotene amongst fruits and vegetables, so is a fruit that can potentially be used to make functional or pharmaceutical ingredients. The carotenoids present in the fruit’s oil of this plant are reported to have antioxidant activity. Spray drying microencapsulation is one of the better methods to provide protection for these labile compounds. In this paper a preliminary study of microencapsulation of gac oil was performed, reaching a high encapsulation efficiency of carotenoids present and demonstrating the feasibility of microencapsulation.