Food nanotechnology applications to the beverage industry

Abstract

Health-conscious consumers are looking for foods that impart benefits beyond simple nutrition. Beverages are seen by consumers as the most active food category for their convenience in usage and distribution, and they have been the most invested functional food category (Corbo et al., 2014). Innovations in food beverages have also benefitted from food nanotechnology applications. Food nanostructures are usually defined as structures of less than 100 nm in size, developed to respond to challenges related to biological or technological functionality. However, often, larger sizes are also utilized in foods for similar purposes, owing to the limitations on the functional ingredients available and permitted for use to build such structures. In this chapter, applications of structures designed to deliver functional molecules are summarized, also with considerations regarding their biological significance demonstrated using in vitro and in vivo reports. The adaptation of nanotechnology to food beverages has increased the opportunities for innovation, and a better understanding of their formation, disruption, and disintegration during consumption and gastrointestinal transit will result in an improved validation of structure function claims. Indeed, a firm validation remains a critical issue, as added value is the driver for the development of such functional beverages.