Chapter 8: Microencapsulation Liposomal Technologies in Bioactive Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals Check Access

Today, liposomes are attractive for encapsulating various bioactive compounds in food and nutraceutical industries due to their small size, biodegradability, absence of toxicity, biocompatibility, and ability to carry different compounds, and stabilize core materials against a range of environmental, chemical, and enzymatic changes. Liposomes are prepared according to conventional and novel methods. Conventional techniques for liposome formation and size reduction are simple to implement and do not require sophisticated equipment. However, limitations associated with scale-up for industrial production and scale-down for point-of-care applications have modified conventional methods and led to developing novel methods for liposome preparation. In this chapter, the classification of liposomal vesicles, and different conventional and novel methods for liposome formation have been reviewed. In addition, the main analytical attributes related to liposome characteristics such as surface charge, fluidity, size, lamellarity, transition temperature, stability, permeability, and encapsulation efficiency are presented.