Formulation of food grade nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) for potential applications in medicinal-functional foods

Nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) has been applied as a novel tool for encapsulating drugs/nutraceuticals and fortification of food products, especially beverages with water insoluble nutraceuticals. The aim of the present study was to introduce a new NLC with the composition of food grade, available, and cost benefit lipids and oils. The preparation of NLC was optimized by designing a set of experiments with different types of lipids, oils, and surfactants, surfactant concentrations, oil to solid lipid concentration ratios, different cooling temperatures, and sonication treatment. The stability of formulated NLC particles was evaluated at the points of particle size, size distribution, and morphology during 60 days of storage. The optimum formulation was reached by oil to solid lipid ratio of 15%, surfactant-to-emulsion ratio of 6%, and storage at −20 °C for 30 min with sonication treatment. The size of optimum formulation was remained almost unchanged (42 nm) after 60 days. The results of the present study may pave a way for production of commercial medicinal-functional foods fortified by lipophilic nutraceuticals.