Nanotechnology’s Impact on Functional Foods, Supplements (How Nanotechnology Will Impact Functional Foods, Dietary Supplements)

The nutraceutical and functional food/beverage industries have maintained a steady buzz around the concept of nanotechnology, but mostly on an introductory level. However, looking forward, the impact of nanotechnology on such products will manifest in four principal ways: enhanced packaging; improved delivery systems; enhanced uptake, kinetics and distribution within the body; and, unexpected, unpredictable and possibly wondrous new clinical effects.

While many of these activities are solely the result of the physically smaller size of nanosized particles (NSPs), much is also possible because substances with relatively simple molecular structures, like clay and plastics, up to the most complex molecules all take on different characteristics when reduced to sizes below 100 nanometers. These radical changes in characteristics or functionality are possible because, at the quantum level, the individual atoms in a molecule have greater influence over the perceived effect of the molecule than we see at a larger scale. That effect, or functionality, may be quite different from the substance whose molecules are obeying Newtonian physics at the bulk matter level. For example, at the nanoscale level, copper actually becomes an insulator rather than a conductor.

Enhanced Packaging

Nanotechnology offers technologic advancement in packaging both in physicality and functionality. Physically, the use of nanofibers allows for more lightweight packaging materials as well as polymers that are stronger and more resilient to rough treatment during storage and transport. Functionally, nanopowders (including zinc oxide, alumina and zirconium oxide) and nanoclays offer resistance to ultraviolet (UV) penetration while retaining transparency and control gas permeability. Other effects include antimicrobial packaging (such as nanosilver incorporation), passive detection methodology for microbial or oxidative spoilage (such as a change in the color of the packaging material), increased heat and cold stability, and inclusion of RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology that would make information available without the use of conventional line-of-sight scanners.

Continue...

Pages: 1 2 3 Next