Enrichment of Food Product with Vitamin E Using Different Encapsulation Methods

Vitamin E is a generic term for eight different molecules of tocopherols and tocotrienols including α, β, γ and δ tocopherol and the corresponding tocotrienols. It is a fat soluble vitamin, and its deficiency is associated with risks of cardiovascular, degenerative and several other diseases. This vitamin acts as a lipid-soluble antioxidant with key roles in protecting cell membrane against damaging free radicals. Encapsulation is one of the best methods for delivery of this vitamin as a nutritional supplement or drug delivery system with a good efficiency. There are two main methods for encapsulation: Biopolymer and lipid base methods. Starch, cellulose, pectin, guar gum, chitosan, alginate, dextran, are among biopolymers used in biopolymer and lipid based methods. There are different paths such as emulsions and nanoemulsion, solid-lipid nanoparticles, nanoliposomes, nanocochleates, archaeosomes and micro and nanoparticles. Among these, nanoemulsion has the highest encapsulation efficiency of about 99/65. In this review, the methods for encapsulation of this vitamin will be discussed.