Development and characterization of vitamin C- vitamin E co-loaded microcapsules: Storage stability, antioxidant activity and in vitro release properties

Abstracts: The inherent instability and poor bioavailability of vitamin C (VC) and vitamin E (VE) significantly limit their applications in food systems. In this study, a novel microcapsule through Wgel/O/W2 multiple emulsion template was developed by incorporating VC in a gelatin-based hydrogel inner phase (Wgel), VE in the oil phase (O), and maltodextrin-whey protein isolate (MD-WPI) composite as the outer water phase (W2), followed by freeze-drying. Optimized microcapsules (MD:WPI = 1:4, 0.10 wt% VC and VE) exhibited superior encapsulation efficiency (91.86 % for VC, 88.33 % for VE). Storage stability studies showed that aluminum foil-sealed packaging at 4 °C provided optimal protection, with 3.35-fold and 1.56-fold extended half-lives for VC and VE respectively. The co-loaded microcapsules exhibited enhanced DPPH radical scavenging capacity (98.56 %) and demonstrated controlled release behavior, with bioavailability increased by 2.51-fold and 2.28-fold for VC and VE respectively. This microencapsulation strategy offers promising potential for dual-vitamin delivery in functional food applications.