Development of processing methods for enhanced production, extraction and encapsulation of bioactive compounds for functional foods

水果和蔬菜的消费量与心脏病和各种癌症成反比。这种预防疾病的特性归因于植物化学物质、抗氧化剂、纤维和其他生物活性化合物的存在。 目前的趋势表明，健康食品部门将继续成为未来20年食品行业的主要焦点，因为老龄化的婴儿潮一代将继续主导市场，寻找特色食品。至于让人们吃更健康的饮食，我们面临着许多挑战。我们可以依靠个人做出正确的饮食选择;或者我们可以帮助食品行业通过更好的食品加工方法为消费者提供更好的食品;增强天然营养素;改进配方;强化食品。提高新鲜水果和蔬菜中的植物化学物质浓度可能有助于人口达到推荐的每日营养剂量。植物在受到非生物胁迫时会产生各种次生代谢产物（胁迫反应）。这种现象被称为毒物兴奋效应。激素胁迫可以应用于新鲜商品，以提高其营养含量。 活性食品成分的分离、纯化制剂可通过萃取获得。 与传统提取方法相比，射频（RF）提取可以提供更短的处理时间，更低的溶剂和能源消耗，更好的产率和更高的质量。需要建立工艺参数以开发优化的RF提取应用。将提取的化合物包封在聚合物基质中将确保浓缩营养素的储存稳定性，保持其生物活性和提取物在食品应用中的多功能性（例如控制递送系统）。该研究计划采用多管齐下的方法来改善我们的食品供应，通过（i）激素处理来提高水果和蔬菜中植物营养素的数量;（ii）开发从植物来源（最好是非食品植物材料）中提取微量营养素的RF提取;以及（iii）提取物的充分封装，以确保货架稳定性，生物活性和潜在食品应用的灵活性。

Consumption of fruits and vegetables is inversely proportional to heart diseases and various cancers. This character of disease prevention is attributed to the presence of phytochemicals, antioxidants, fibres and other bioactive compounds. Current trends indicate that the health-food sector will remain a primary focus of the food industry for the next 20 years as aging baby boomers will continue to dominate the market in search of specialty foods. As for getting people to eat a healthier diet we are faced with many challenges. We can rely on individuals making the right eating choices; or we can help the food industry supply consumers with better foods through better food processing methods; enhancing naturally occurring nutrients; improving formulations; and fortifying foods. The enhancing of the phytochemical concentrations in fresh fruits and vegetables may help the population to reach the recommended daily nutrient doses. Plants produce various secondary metabolites when they are subjected to abiotic stresses (stress response). This phenomenon is referred to as hormesis. Hormetic stresses can be applied to fresh commodities to enhance their nutrient content. Isolated, purified preparations of active food ingredients can be obtained via extraction. Radio-frequency (RF) extraction can offer shorter processing time, lower solvent and energy consumption, better yields, and higher quality in comparison to conventional extraction methods. Process parameters need to be established for the development of optimized RF-extraction applications. The encapsulation of extracted compounds in polymeric matrices will ensure the shelf-stability of the concentrated nutrients, maintain their bio-activity and the versatility the extracts can have in food applications (such as controlled delivery systems). This research program adopts a multi-pronged approach to improving our food supply, by (i) hormetic treatments to enhance the quantity of phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables; (ii) developing RF-extraction of micronutrients from plant sources (preferably non-food plant materials); and (iii) adequate encapsulation of the extracts to ensure shelf stability, bioactivity and flexibility in potential food applications.