Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)-stabilized Pickering emulsion for improved curcumin storage stability

Curcumin is a bioactive supplement known to have many medical benefits. However, it has low bioavailability due to its insolubility in aqueous solution and rapid degradation profile. In this paper, an oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering emulsion (PE) was fabricated ultrasonically with different cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) concentrations to investigate its effect on the physicochemical properties of PE and the storage stability of curcumin. The CNCPE produced remained stable for at least one month. The highest encapsulation efficiency of curcumin in CNC-PE was found to exceed 99%. For storage of curcumin containing CNC-PE under dark conditions, good stability of curcumin was observed with a half-life of 98.47 d, reflecting a nearly 20-fold improvement as compared to other existing PE systems. On the other hand, storage under visible light, UV light, and at elevated temperature (50 degrees C) increased the degradation rate of encapsulated curcumin following the order: 50 degrees C > UV light > visible light > dark. Our findings elucidated the promising potential of CNC-PE as a food-safe delivery system for sensitive lipophilic bioactive compounds.

Automated summary

This study fabricated an oil-in-water Pickering emulsion (PE) ultrasonically with different cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) concentrations and found that CNC-PE could effectively stabilize and improve the encapsulation efficiency of curcumin. The curcumin-loaded CNC-PE exhibited good stability under dark conditions and showed increased degradation rates under visible light, UV light, and elevated temperature.