Kinetic stability, gastrointestinal fate, and cytotoxicity of vitamin D₃ emulsion incorporated with cricket protein-fructooligosaccharide conjugate

Vitamin D-3 stability has been a concern in the functional food industry. Protein conjugated with saccharides showed potential for an improvement in vitamin D-3 stability. Novel and sustainable proteins, such as cricket protein, are of interest worldwide. Therefore, this research examined the utilization of cricket proteinfructooligosaccharide (FOS) conjugates formed through the Maillard reaction as a delivery system for vitamin D-3 in an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion. O/W emulsions with vitamin D-3 stabilized by cricket protein powder (CP), cricket protein-FOS mixture (CPM), and cricket protein-FOS conjugates (CPF) with varying concentrations (0.3%, 0.5%, and 1.0% w/v). All emulsions had di-modal distributions with mean particle size diameters (D ([4,3])) between 4.17 and 12.62 mu m. The CPF emulsion had larger particle size diameters (8.46-12.62 mu m) but less span value (3.26-4.76) when compared with CP and CPM (4.17-5.88 mu m, 4.87-6.38). The storage stability of emulsions and vitamin D-3 release (4 degree celsius, 0-30 days) was improved by conjugated products. The CPF-stabilized vitamin D-3 emulsions exhibited enhanced vitamin D-3 bioaccessibility (37-54%), surpassing that of CP (27-34%) and CPM (32-37%). Furthermore, CPF showed superior vitamin D-3 stability during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. The concentration required for 50% inhibition of cell viability of CP, CPM, CPF, and CPFvitamin D-3 emulsion was 0.643, 0.552, 0.474, and 0.229 mg/mL, respectively, indicating low cytotoxic activity. These findings validate the effectiveness of cricket protein-FOS conjugates, particularly at a 1% (w/v) concentration, in improving the release of vitamin D-3 in emulsion-based delivery systems and their potential for fortifying functional food products.