ABSTRACT

BIBLIOGRAPHY 29

BIBLIOGRAPHY 31

APPLICATIONS OF BIOPOLYMERS FOR MICRO-AND NANO-

ENCAPSULATION OF BIOACTIVE FOOD INGREDIENTS

1. Bioactive Food Ingredients

Bioactive food ingredients, or so-called nutraceuticals, are a new class of food supplements with biological added value, containing prophylactic and therapeutic agents for the improvement of human health. The active agents are antioxidants (enzymatic or non-enzymatic), different kinds of vitamins, essential fatty acids, phospholipids, minerals, phytochemicals, etc., which are considered to contribute towards prevention of the development of various diseases like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, circulatory disorders, skin conditions, immune dysfunction, autoimmune diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. It has been commonly stated that these bioactive compounds offer major advantages over existing drugs because they exhibit multifunctional benefits for well-being, in contrast to the use of drugs for specific diseases, which often have harmful side effects (Omenn et al., 1996; Edge et al., 1997; Gibbs et al., 1999; Albanes, 1999; Ransley et al., 2001; Erhardt et al., 2003; Ficarra et al., 2004; Ruxton et al., 2004, 2005; Shahidi and Miraliakbari, 2005; Ratnam et al., 2006). It has also been suggested that more than twothirds of human cancers arising from mutations in multiple genes could be prevented by a change in lifestyle, including dietary modification. In addition, it is recognized that the human antioxidant defence system is incomplete without dietary antioxidants (Ransley et al., 2001; Ficarra et al., 2004; Tur et al., 2005; Kaur et al., 2007).