High-Pressure Homogenization (HPH)-Based Bioactive-Loaded Nanocarriers in the Food Industry: Principles,...

Area of Science:

• Food Science and Technology
• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Growing demand for functional foods necessitates advanced processing for bioactive compounds (BCs).
• High-pressure homogenization (HPH) offers a scalable, sustainable method for creating structured delivery systems in food.
• HPH utilizes intense physical forces to reduce particle size and enhance encapsulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in HPH-assisted encapsulation technologies for food applications.
• To examine the mechanisms and functional performance of nanoemulsions (NEs), solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNPs), and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) produced by HPH.
• To discuss structure-function relationships, stability, and integration with other processing methods.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on HPH-assisted encapsulation for food.
• Analysis of HPH mechanisms: shear stress, turbulence, cavitation, and droplet collision.
• Examination of nano-carrier formation (NEs, SLNPs, NLCs) and their properties.

Main Results:

• HPH effectively reduces droplet size and modifies interfacial properties for stable nano-delivery systems.
• HPH enhances encapsulation efficiency, oxidative stability, and controlled release of BCs.
• Integration with thermal/non-thermal methods further optimizes structural transitions and functional outcomes.

Conclusions:

• HPH is a robust platform for developing next-generation functional foods with improved bioactive compound delivery.
• HPH-generated nano-carriers offer enhanced stability and protection for sensitive compounds.
• Challenges in scalability and long-term industrial adoption require further investigation.