Paula Speranza

A new approach for flavor and aroma encapsulation

Aroma compounds exhibit an extreme importance in many fields because they are essential additives in consumer products, such as foods, medicines, perfumes, and cosmetics. However, this ingredient is labile and volatile, and is easily lost during manufacturing, storage, and use. Demand for new technologies in the application of flavors and fragrances to ensure better functionalities rises every year, and the encapsulation method is one of the most used to improve these properties. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the novelties and the most used technologies for flavor encapsulation and its applications, presenting the advantages and disadvantages and critically assessing its use, especially in food systems, highlighting potential future developments in this rapidly growing area.

Application of lipases to regiospecific interesterification of exotic oils from an Amazonian area

Enzymatic interesterification may favor the development of lipid fractions from Amazonian oils with greater application potential. In this study, the Amazonian buriti oil and murumuru fat were subjected to enzymatic interesterification using two lipases in three different enzyme systems: one with a commercial lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosa, a second with the lipase produced by Rhizopus sp., and a third with a mixture of both lipases. The three enzyme systems were able to catalyze the reaction, but the enzymes showed different specificities. The commercial lipase was specific for unsaturated fatty acids, whereas the Rhizopus sp. lipase was specific for both unsaturated fatty acids and the positions sn -1 and sn -3 of the fatty acid on the triacylglycerol. The mixture of both lipases showed no synergistic effect: the results were intermediate between the two enzymes applied alone. Interesterification reduced the levels of trisaturated and triunsaturated triacylglycerols and increased the levels of diunsaturated-monosaturated and monounsaturated-disaturated triacylglycerols. The thermal melting behavior indicated the formation of a single endothermic region with more homogeneous triacylglycerols. The content of the bioactive β-carotene was preserved after the interesterification reaction with all three-enzyme systems. The interesterified lipids obtained, because of the characteristics of the oils, may be applied to the formulation of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Development of Functional Food From Enzyme Technology: A Review

Abstract In recent years, there has been a consensus that functional foods play a key role in reducing disease and improving health. The development of these food products using biotechnology processes has become a promising area of research in academia and industry. Protein sources and associated by-products can be used to produce bioactive hydrolysates and peptides with potential use as functional food ingredients. Resistant starches that improve colonic health and microbiota can be produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of starch sources. Lipases can be used for the production of certain fatty acids as flavoring and antioxidant esters. Enzymes such as tannase, phytase, and l -asparaginase have certain specificities for the production of functional foods. Tannase is used for bioconversion of tannin-rich materials into value-added products. l -Asparaginase is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of l -asparagine, not allowing the reaction of reducing sugars with this amino acid for the generation of acrylamide. Phytase has been found increasingly interesting for use in the processing and manufacturing of food, particularly because the decline in food phytate results in enhancement of mineral bioavailability. Accordingly, this chapter will present a review of recent studies from the technical literature that explored different enzymes for the production of functional foods.

Antioxidant Potential and Modulatory Effects of Amazonian Restructured Lipids in Liver Cells

Enzymatic interesterification is used to manipulate oil and fat in order to obtain improved restructured lipids with desired technological properties. However, with raw materials containing significant amounts of bioactive compounds, the influence of this enzymatic process on the bioactivity of the final product is still not clear. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the antioxidant potential and modulatory effects of two raw materials from the Amazonian area, buriti oil and murumuru fat, before and after lipase interesterification, on human hepatoma cells (HepG2). The results indicate that minor bioactive compounds naturally found in the raw materials and their antioxidant capacity are preserved after enzymatic interesterification, and that the restructured lipids modulate HepG2 endogenous antioxidant enzyme.

Crystallization isotherms of enzymatically interesterified oils from Amazon, using free and immobilized enzymes

Paula Speranza, Ana Paula Badan Ribeiro, Antonio Manoel da Cruz Rodrigues, Luiza H. Meller da Silva and Gabriela Alves Macedo Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas, 80, Monteiro Lobato St.,13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil. School of Applied Sciences, University of Campinas, 1300, Pedro Zaccaria St., Jd. Sta Luiza, 13484-350, Limeira, SP, Brazil. Faculty of Food Engineering, Federal University of Para, Belém, PA, Brazil.