By Janis Siegel ,
JTNews Columnist
It’s called “microencapsulation” and by the year 2025, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, World Hunger, and other international food programs plan to combat world hunger and malnutrition by fortifying some of the most widely used condiments and seasonings with micronutrients and vitamins.
The WHO’s lofty global nutrition goals include combating the rising rate of obesity, which is a form of malnutrition, not only in the more than 43 million children it says are affected by it, but in all age groups.
Child starvation, low birth weight, and missed opportunities to breastfeed babies in the first six months of life also contribute to the subsequent explosion of diabetes and cardiovascular disease globally, it warns.
Its plan in 2014, in partnership with New York’s Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science and the Micronutrient Initiative, is to convene a conference in August that will develop industrial, regulatory, and technical programs as the means of achieving these outcomes.
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology associate professor Eyal Shimoni, a leader in nanotechnology research, was one of the first researchers in the world to look for ways to pack everyday foods with mega-portions of nutritional value.
In his Laboratory of Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, and Food Nanoscience in the Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Shimoni is working on micro- and nanofood-grade delivery systems funded by the European Union, and a collaboration with Italian researchers to find a way to deliver nutrients to the lower gastrointestinal tract, where they are better absorbed, instead of dissolving in the upper gut.
Funded by the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Shimoni is also experimenting with microcapsules that are time-released in the body.
“Our philosophy is that the efficient manufacturing and use of functional foods and nutraceuticals requires a comprehensive approach that extends beyond an analysis of the beneficial biological activity,” said Shimoni. “This approach incorporates all stages of the development and manufacturing.”
Seasonings and condiments like soy sauce, bouillon cubes, and fish sauce could be enhanced with micronutrients, says the WHO.
Vitamin A deficiency, which is the leading cause of avoidable blindness in children, is of primary concern to the WHO, as well as the negative health effects of zinc, iron and iodine deficiencies.
Encapsulation could preserve vitamin A, and the potency of vitamin C, which is stable when in powder form but greatly reduced when dissolved in water.
Scientists are mainly testing polysaccharides, a carbohydrate made up of many sugar molecules bonded together, as the outer material that might provide the best barrier seal between the food and the body so that the nutritional content of the food would remain intact.
“Unlike delivery systems for pharmaceuticals, this task is particularly challenging in foods since one is limited to food-grade materials only. Thus, we developed a food-grade coating to tailor both the retention time and release rate in the digestive tract.”
Microencapsulation can also make many otherwise distasteful or unappetizing nutrients more tolerable for consumers around the world to ingest, according to Shimoni.
Controlling the manufacturing process and the look of the final product could also make the capsules more attractive to different populations that might not be used to eating a pure vitamin substance in its manufactured form.
“In order for such efforts to materialize into real products, some challenges still need to be met,” said Shimoni. “Such vehicles are sought to protect bioactive ingredients added to food while controlling and targeting their release as they pass through the human gastrointestinal tract.”
Shimoni is part of a fast growing nanotechnology industry in Israel led by the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative, overseen by Israel’s chief scientist in the ministry of economy. Its primary objective, according to its website, is to create “an engine for global leadership.”
The INNI also works to connect international researchers with Israeli scientists for potential partnerships, to secure research money, and to create a national policy for the development and commercialization of nanotechnology.
So far, its national database lists 119 companies and 620 researchers. The site also provides a way for entrepreneurs and scientists alike to connect potential projects with investors and developers.
Shimoni, who earned his undergraduate, post-graduate, and doctoral degrees at the Technion, has been teaching there since 2006. He is excited about the chance to be on the cutting edge of a new industry.
“The study of material properties at the nanoscale,” said Shimoni, “is one of the most exciting frontiers in science.”
Longtime JTNews correspondent and freelance journalist Janis Siegel has covered international health research for SELF magazine and campaigns for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.