Consumer Acceptance of Bars and Gummies with Unencapsulated and Encapsulated Resveratrol

The addition of resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine and peanuts, to food products would help to provide the health benefits associated with the compound to the consumer in a wide array of food matrices. The bitterness of resveratrol and instability of its bioactive form in light are 2 major challenges with the incorporation of the compound into food products. Microencapsulation in a sodium caseinate matrix was utilized as a strategy to overcome these challenges. The objective of this research was to show the application of the resveratrol microcapsules in easy-to-consume foods. Consumer acceptance was evaluated for gummies and bars with encapsulated resveratrol in comparison to the controls. Four different controls were used: 1) without any resveratrol OR protein (Plain), 2) unencapsulated resveratrol (Resv), 3) sodium caseinate and unencapsulated resveratrol just mixed without encapsulation (P + R), and 4) sodium caseinate only (PRO). Two concentrations of resveratrol that have been shown to offer therapeutic effects in humans were tested (10 and 40 mg/d). The overall liking, evaluated using a 9-point scale, of bars with 10 mg of encapsulated resveratrol did not differ significantly from the control without any added resveratrol and protein (Plain) or from the controls with equivalent protein and/or resveratrol concentrations. For gummies, the samples with the resveratrol microcapsules had a significantly lower overall liking than the controls with the same protein and/or resveratrol content. This research demonstrated application of resveratrol microcapsules into easy-to-consume food products in order to deliver the health benefits to the consumer.