Title:Nano- and Micro-Technologies Applied to Food Nutritional Ingredients
Volume: 18
Issue: 6
Author(s): Sonia Trombino, Federica Curcio and Roberta Cassano*
Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmacy and Health and Nutrition Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza,Italy
Keywords:
Delivery, micro-technology, nano-technology, nutrients, nutrition-related diseases, food applications, risk assessment.
Abstract: New technologies are currently investigated to improve the quality of foods by enhancing
their nutritional value, freshness, safety, and shelf-life, as well as by improving their tastes, flavors
and textures. Moreover, new technological approaches are being explored, in this field, to address
nutritional and metabolism-related diseases (i.e., obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases),
to improve targeted nutrition, in particular for specific lifestyles and elderly population, and to
maintain the sustainability of food production. A number of new processes and materials, derived
from micro- and nano-technology, have been used to provide answers to many of these needs and
offer the possibility to control and manipulate properties of foods and their ingredients at the molecular
level. The present review focuses on the importance of micro- and nano-technology in the
food and nutritional sector and, in particular, provides an overview of the micro- and nano-materials
used for the administration of nutritional constituents essential to maintain and improve
health, as well as to prevent the development and complications of diseases.