Production of functional milk containing cinnamon using a nanoliposome system

Cinnamon has proven health and healing effects due to its numerous phenolic compounds. On the other hand, the use of nanoliposome to overcome incompatibility between bioactive compounds and food matrices targeting fortification has been widely acknowledged. Therefore, in order to produce a functional product and increase the desire to consume milk, in the present study, high-fat milk enriched with cinnamon was prepared by a nanoliposomal system with zein hydrolysate. Encapsulation efficiency, loading capacity, particle size, and particle size distribution of the prepared liposomes were evaluated and then the amount of total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, color index, viscosity, and sensory properties of enriched milk were evaluated on the first and seventh days. The results were compared with milk containing cinnamon extract and control milk. The particle size and distribution of the liposomal system were in the range of 376-403 nm and 0.63-0.54, respectively, and the encapsulation efficiency and loading capacity were higher than 85% and 53%, respectively. The results showed that the addition of cinnamon using the liposomal system had no significant effect on the properties of fortified milk and was evaluated similarly to the control sample. The amount of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of cinnamon-enriched milk by the liposomal system on the seventh day was higher than the control sample and also the sample enriched with cinnamon extract. In terms of color, the addition of cinnamon as extract decreased the L*, increased a* and b* of milk, while it was evaluated similarly to the control sample as the liposomal system was used as a carrier. Sensually, enriched samples using the liposomal system due to lack of negative effect on sensory properties had a high similarity to the control sample and no significant difference was observed between the two samples