## 5 Microencapsulated Bioactive Compounds: Application in Food Systems
Thus, the authors pointed out that the use of these microcapsules served as a potential carrier for the development of functional foods to enhance human health. In addition, the use of encapsulated flaxseed oil to fortify bread was studied recently by [PERSON] et al. [222]. In this research, the encapsulation with \(\beta\)-glucan increased dough rheological properties, firmness, and density, while the use of yeast cells improved oxidative stability, and in both cases, higher \(\alpha\)-linonic acid content was observed. In conclusion, the results suggest the possible use of oil-loaded yeasts and \(\beta\)-glucan microcapsules for the fortification of food products with no effects on bread sensory properties [222]. Other authors proposed the omega-3 fortification of different bakery products using encapsulated chia oil. In this regard, the use of freeze-drying encapsulated chia oil using soy proteins as a wall material did not affect the oxidative stability, specific volume, average cell area, firmness, and chewiness of fortified bread [223] while producing a significant improvement in the nutritional quality (fatty acid profile) of this bakery product. In addition, the use of microencapsulated chia oil was used for the reformulation of pasta [226]. The authors reported a significant increase in omega-3 fatty acids, while no significant variations were observed in the cooking parameters, cooking loss, and texture of cooked pasta, although in raw pasta, some influence was described for texture and water retention parameters. Additionally, encapsulation also protects highly unsaturated oil (chia oil) against oxidative deterioration [226]. Finally, encapsulated chia oil was also proposed as a partial (15% and 30%) margarine replacer during cookies manufacture [225]. In this case, the replacement produced a nutritional improvement in the cookies (high \(\alpha\)-Linolenic acid concentrations), which reduced both atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indices. Moreover, the highest color stability during storage (30 days) was obtained in samples with 30% substitution, while the cookies produced with the 15% margarine substitution were well-accepted sensorially [225]. In the meat industry, the use of encapsulated oils to replace animal fat (high cholesterol and saturated fatty acids) with healthy marine or vegetable oils were widely studied. In this sense, encapsulated flaxseed oil was employed to design a functional (fortified with omega-3) chicken sausage [227]. In this study, the authors reported that the addition of encapsulated oil produces a significant impact on the physical characteristics of the sausages (mainly on texture and rheological parameters), with concurrent improvement in the nutritional profile in comparison to control samples [227]. The partial (50%) replacement of animal fat by microencapsulated healthier oils (tigernut, chia, and linseed oils) to enhance the physicochemical and nutritional properties of deer pate was studied [228]. The authors found a significant improvement in the nutritional properties (decreased total fat, cholesterol, and saturated fatty acids and increased mono- and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids, depending on the formulation). However, the reformulation with high PUFA oils (chia and linseed) produced an increase in lipid oxidation and a reduction in sensory acceptability [228]. In contrast, the use of tigernut oil microcapsules did not promote oxidation and presented the same acceptability to control pates, which demonstrated that the reformulation is possible using this oil [228]. In a very recent study, the authors proposed the use of different encapsulated fish oils in the formulation of chicken nuggets [229]. A strong fortification of EPA and DHA fatty acids was observed, which had benefits in human health, and the encapsulation also improved the fatty acid stability (protective action against lipid and protein oxidation).