Liposomes as carrier vehicles for functional compounds in food sector

Abstract

Liposomes are attractive encapsulation systems that provide enhanced stability of encapsulated materials against a range of environmental, enzymatic, and chemical stresses, including the presence of enzymes or reactive chemicals, and exposure to extreme pH, temperature, and ionic strength changes. Liposomes have been widely used in the pharmaceutical and food industries because of their biocompatibility, biodegradability, absence of toxicity, small size, and ability to carry a wide variety of bioactive compounds due to the amphiphilicity of the phospholipid encapsulating material. In the food industry, liposomes have recently been used to deliver different functional compounds in food systems. In this paper, the food application of liposomes and nanoliposomes as emerging carrier vehicles of vitamins, enzymes, food antimicrobials, essential oils, and polyphenols is discussed in detail.