Insight on the functionalization of hesperidin: Encapsulated by the complex of soybean protein isolate and...

Protein-polysaccharide complexes exhibit distinctive attributes that render suitable for encapsulating active ingredients. In this study, chitosan (CT), guar gum (GG), and xanthan gum (XG) were employed as ionic/non-ionic polysaccharides, in conjunction with soybean protein isolate (SPI), to encapsulate hesperidin (HP). When the ratio of protein to polysaccharide was 3:1 (w/w), the SPI/XG complex demonstrated an encapsulation efficiency of 90.22 ± 1.01 %, outperforming the SPI/GG and SPI/CT complexes, which recorded encapsulation rates of 85.13 ± 0.79 % and 79.88 ± 2.61 %, respectively. Meanwhile, the SPI/XG complex exhibited a smaller particle size and superior storage stability, leading to the selection of XG as the preferred encapsulation material for HP. Multiple spectroscopic combined with molecular docking results showed that SPI, XG, and HP formed a ternary complex through hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic, and ionic electrostatic interactions. Further investigation revealed that the foaming and emulsifying ability decreased with increasing XG content, but foaming and emulsifying stability were enhanced. When the ratio of SPI to XG was 3:1 (w/w), the foaming and emulsifying stability reached 99.63 ± 0.37 % and 96.78 ± 2.08 % respectively. In addition, when the ratio of SPI to XG in the ternary complex was 10:1, it exhibited excellent α-glucosidase inhibition (IC₅₀ = 1115.32 μg/mL) and high HP bioaccessibility (27.80 ± 0.68 %). These studies further revealed the encapsulation effect of SPI-polysaccharide complexes on HP and provided new ideas for the application of active ingredients in food.