Micro-encapsulation of garlic oil using esterified-wheat porous starch and whey protein isolate: Physicochemical properties, release behavior during in vitro digestion

The study aimed to inhibit the stimulating impact of garlic oil (GO) on the stomach and attain high release in the intestine during digestion. So, wheat porous starch (WPS) was modified with octenyl succinic acid (OSA) and malic acid (MA) to obtain esterified WPS, OWPS and MWPS, respectively. The differences in physicochemical, encapsulation, and digestive properties of two GO microcapsules, WPI/OWPS/GO and WPI/MWPS/GO microcapsules produced by using OWPS and MWPS as variant carrier materials and whey protein isolate (WPI) as the same coating agent, were compared. The results found that OWPS had greater amphiphilicity, while MWPS had better hydrophobicity and anti-digestive ability than WPS. Encapsulation efficiency of WPI/OWPS/GO (94.67 %) was significantly greater than WPI/MWPS/GO (91.44 %). The digestion inhibition and low GO release (approximately 23 %) of WPI/OWPS/GO and WPI/MWPS/GO microcapsules in the gastric phase resulted from the protective effect of WPI combined with the good adsorption and lipophilicity of OWPS and MWPS. Especially, WPI/OWPS/GO microcapsule was relatively stable in the gastric phase and had sufficient GO release (67.24 %) in the intestinal phase, which was significantly higher than WPI/MWPS/GO microcapsule (56.03 %), benefiting from the adsorption and digestive properties of OWPS, and resulting in a total cumulative GO release rate of 90.86 %.