Potential use of carbohydrates as stabilizers and delivery vehicles of bioactive substances in foods

People are becoming increasingly health conscious and are looking for foods with special bioactive functions. Bioactive substances are often taken from their natural matrix by extraction or another concentration process, and need stabilization such as encapsulation to be successfully applied to food formulations. Encapsulation of a food ingredient means a process of forming a continuous, thin coating around the ingredient, or a process of entrapment of the ingredient within a matrix such as, e.g., a gel or crystal. Carbohydrates have been applied together with proteins and lipids as shell materials for encapsulation of food ingredients for decades. In fact, the most commonly used shell materials belong to the group of hydrophilic carbohydrates. Proteins are also used, while the hydrophobic lipids have so far found only special use, such as in fat coatings of larger particles.