Evaluation of Protein-polysaccharide complexes for microencapsulation of anthocyanins from Garcinia indica

Abstract

Microencapsulation of Anthocyanins (ACNs) extracted from dried rinds of Garcinia indica (GI) was performed using different polysaccharides (carboxy methyl cellulose, xanthan gum, inulin, chitosan, and gum arabic) in combination with two different proteins (whey protein isolate and sodium caseinate). The whey protein isolate (WPI)-xanthan gum (XG) complex was found to most efficiently encapsulate ACNs; Encapsulation Efficiency (EE) of 94.33% ±1.07 was achieved at 1% (w/v) of WPI, 1.50% (w/v) XG, 0.02 mg/mL ACNs, and pH 3. A comparative study on EE of ACNs from different sources, including standard ACN, GI crude ACNs, and Three-Liquid-Phase Extraction System (TLPES) purified ACNs, before (in the solution) and after freeze-drying (powder), indicated that the encapsulation is stable even after the freeze-drying of the WPI-ACNs-XG microencapsulates. Physicochemical characterization of freeze-dried ACNs microencapsulates done using antioxidant activity assay, particle size analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and thermo gravimetric analysis supported the higher compatibility of the WPI-XG complex to encapsulate ACNs. ACNs obtained from TLPES purification were the most suitable for encapsulation as compared to standard ACN and GI crude ACNs due to their higher antioxidant potential (71.10% ± 1.32) and smooth particle surface morphology that shield the ACNs from adverse surroundings. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.