Food & Beverage

Until recently, the use of lipophilic bioactive ingredients (e.g., oil-soluble vitamins, cannabinoids, coenzymes, phytosterols, carotenoids, flavonoids, curcuminoids, phenolics, polyunsaturated lipids, etc.) in food and beverage products has been restricted by technological challenges. Since these compounds are not water-soluble, they cannot be incorporated into water-based beverages by simple infusion and exhibit very low bioavailability profiles. These challenges can now be overcome by formulating lipophilic bioactive ingredients as water-compatible nanoemulsions, where these ingredients are dispersed in water in the form of extremely small droplets (20 – 40 nm in median diameter). Such formulations are kinetically stable,  highly bioavailable, and fully water-compatible: they can be readily infused into food and beverage products without compromising their shelf-stability and ensuring that the bioactives are absorbed by the body rapidly and completely. Nanoemulsion droplets have very large cumulative surface areas, which enhances the flavor and aroma of any incorporated terpenes and essential oils. Since nanoemulsions with droplet diameters below 100 nm are translucent and become transparent when diluted with water, they do not alter the appearance of beverages even when very strong doses are infused.

Industrial Sonomechanics® laboratory, bench, and industrial ultrasonic liquid processors provide a simple, effective and directly scalable approach to producing water-compatible nanoemulsions lipophilic bioactive ingredients using safe, food-grade ingredients and economic processing operations.