Nanoemulsions: Using emulsifiers from natural sources replacing synthetic ones—A review

Abstract

In recent years, substantial consideration within the food industry has been aimed at the development of food‐grade nanoemulsions (NE) as promising systems for encapsulating, stabilizing, and delivering bioactive compounds. Although numerous studies have revealed the critical potential of NE, there are still several challenges to overcome them. These include the extensive amounts of synthetic emulsifiers needed for NE formulation, which can potentially be toxic for human health. The interest in safety, and natural emulsifiers have stimulated food manufacturers to develop "label‐friendly" formulations by replacing synthetic emulsifiers with natural alternatives. This review represents a critical and comprehensive summary of the application of natural emulsifiers as potential substitutes for synthetic emulsifiers in NE production, with particular emphasis on the newly identified natural emulsifiers. Some recent reports showed the excellent emulsifying properties of various natural emulsifier extracted from natural resources, to produce NE, and therefore, might be generalized for further industrial applications. Future trends are encouraged to identify novel natural emulsifiers from industrial food by‐products that may demonstrate highly effective emulsifiers.

Nanoemulsion Formulation of Cold Pressed Neem Oil As a Repellent Against Anopheles Stephensi 

“…2011 [23] reported a protection time of 6.23 h and a failure time of 7.30 h, which are almost the same as those in here. Fradin and Day [30] reported that protection time, failure time, and DEET depend on the concentration, formulation, and the tested mosquito species and can vary in different conditions.…”

“…Low-energy methods includes slow mixing of components together(21) while the others include high pressure homogenization, micro uidization, sonication, method in jet disperser, and high-amplitude ultrasonic method (22). As the natural extracts contain a range of different chemical structures, the nanoemulsifying of them is more di cult than synthesized or pure chemicals (23). The present work shows how nanoemulsifying of neem oil enhances the repellency effect rather than unprocessed neem oil against the An.…”

Pulmonary Delivery of Anticancer Drugs via Lipid-Based Nanocarriers for the Treatment of Lung Cancer: An Update

“…NEs safety is another concern that is primarily associated with the use of synthetic emulsifiers and is a key issue that needs to be addressed in particular to the adverse negative interactions between lipids and surfactants of the lung alveoli [ 161 ]. Most synthetic emulsifiers may trigger toxic symptoms with prolonged administration, including the potential binding of anionic emulsifiers to proteins, enzymes, and phospholipid membranes in the human body, resulting in various adverse reactions, such as enzyme dysfunction, protein structure modification, and membrane cell phospholipid [ 162 ]. Consequently, replacing synthetic emulsifiers and excipients with natural substitutes is one of the novelties on-demand in the construction of the NEs.…”

Whey Proteins as a Potential Co-Surfactant with Aesculus hippocastanum L. as a Stabilizer in Nanoemulsions Derived from Hempseed Oil

“…Stability of emulsions is influenced by many factors, Molecules 2021, 26, 5856 2 of 19 e.g., the concentration and ratio of individual phases, methods of preparation, storage condition, as well as the presence of compounds demonstrating the surface-active property (stabilizers) [2]. Therefore, new sources of natural, effective stabilizers, or surfactants, are in high demand to use plant-based ingredients that provide bioactive extracts [3][4][5], hydrocolloid activity [6], plant proteins [7][8][9]. Many biopolymers (proteins, polysaccharides or the combinations) that are used to assist in the formation of an emulsion have excellent effectiveness since they contain both hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups capable of lowering the surface tension between water and the oil phase [10].…”