Exploring agricultural resources for development of encapsulation and delivery systems: encapsulation of photochemical for enhancement of stability and bioactivity and efficient delivery

Our country has a diversity of indigeneous and underutilized or understudied food plants which can have very high levels of bioactive phytochemicals from which high-value added and innovative ingredients and products, that promote health and wellness, can be developed. However, many phytochemicals are prone to degradation during processing and storage and have poor absorption and bioavailability and are poorly delivered to their sites of action. For example, many antioxidant phytochemicals are unstable biologically, have low solubility in water and are poorly distributed to target site. Thus, our current research activities have been directed to addressing these drawbacks by means of micro- or nanoencapsulation. Encapsualtion (micro- or nano-) is a process by which one material or system resulting in the formation of microparticles (size range of 1 micron to 1 millimeter) or nanoparticles (size range of 1 nanometer to 1 micrometer). This paper discussed the nature of encapsulation and carrier systems, and how they can be obtained from agricultural resources. As well, the strategies for escapsulation and delivery of various types of bioactive phytochemicals were presented and demonstrated by means of case studies. So far our results showed that all of the encapsulated materials were obtained as powers and exhibited greatly improved water solubility. For highly labile phytochemicals such as carotenoids and volatile materials like essential oils, encapsulation provided protection from heat light, volatilization and other environmental conditions. In general, encapsulation provided protection/stabilization enhanced bioactivity and bioavailability and allowed efficient delivery in a controlled and sustained manner to their sites action. From the encapsulates, potential products with nutraceutical, cosmeceutical and pesticidal properties were developed, demonstrating that encapsulation could be employed to increase the functionality effectiveness and range of application of many types of bioactive phytochemicals. In conclusion, it was highlighted that UPLB [University of the Philippines Los Baños], with a strong and excellent tradition in agriculture and forestry, and centers of excellence in the basic sciences, is in the best position to take lead role in crucial collaborative research on encapsulation technology.