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

水果和蔬菜的消费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，健康食品行业在未来20年仍将是食品行业的主要重点，因为婴儿潮一代的老龄化将继续主导市场，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；或者我们可以通过更好的食品加工方法、增强自然产生的营养物质、改进配方和强化食品，帮助食品行业向消费者提供更好的食品。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(胁迫反应)时会产生各种次生代谢物。这种现象被称为兴奋效应。可以对新鲜商品施加刺激，以提高其营养含量。活性食品成分的分离、纯化制剂可以通过提取获得。与传统的提取方法相比，射频提取具有处理时间短、溶剂和能耗低、得率高、质量高等优点。为了开发优化的射频提取应用，需要建立工艺参数。将萃取物包裹在聚合物基质中，将确保浓缩营养素的货架稳定性，保持其生物活性和萃取物在食品应用(如受控给药系统)中的多功能性。这项研究计划采取多管齐下的方法来改善我们的食品供应，方法是：(I)通过美容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(最好是非食用植物材料)中提取微量营养素；以及(Iii)充分包裹提取物，以确保货架的稳定性、生物活性和在潜在的食品应用中的灵活性。

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.