Microencapsulation of a maca leaf polyphenol extract in mixture of maltodextrin and neutral polysaccharides extracted from maca roots.

The aim of the present study was to use microencapsulation technologies to create microcapsules containing polyphenol extracted from maca leaves, which were coated with maltodextrin (MD) and neutral polysaccharides extracted from maca roots (NPMR). NPMR was composed of arabinose, galactose, rhamnose, and glucose, with the main linkage types of →5)-α-L-Araf-(1→, →2,5)-α-L-Araf-(1→, α-L-Araf-(1→, →3)-β-D-Galp-(1→, and β-D-Rhap-(1→. The microencapsulation efficiency of the powdered microcapsules increased with an increasing MP concentration in the coating materials. SEM images showed that, according to the increase in the MP concentration, the powdered microcapsules were more spherical and smoother, with a smaller particle size. The polyphenols extracted from the maca leaves were successfully microencapsulated in an MD-NPMR coat, as confirmed by FT-IR spectra analysis. The storage stability was greater at several temperatures for the powdered microcapsules coated with MD-MP than for those of the microcapsules coated with only MD. In an in vitro study, the powdered microcapsules coated with MD-NPMR released a smaller amount of polyphenol than the microcapsules coated with only MD in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. Furthermore, the powdered microcapsules coated with MD-NPMR produced greater Bifidobacterium longum probiotic growth than did the microcapsules coated only with MD.