Encapsulation, characterisation and incorporation of chebulagic acid from beleric (Terminalia Bellirica) fruits in orange juice

Chebulagic acid (CA), found in beleric (Terminalia bellirica) fruit powder, has various biological activities. This study aims to encapsulate CA to overcome its solubility, astringency and bitter taste issues and determine its properties. The encapsulated chebulagic acid (ECA) was incorporated into orange juice (OR), and a storage stability study at ambient temperature (25 +/- 2 degrees C) and sensory analysis using a 9-point hedonic scale were conducted. The highest encapsulation efficiency (89.24% +/- 0.08%), antioxidant activity (96.82% +/- 0.03%) and considerable powder yield ( similar to 59.3% +/- 1.07%) with better water absorption index (0.64 +/- 0.008 g/g), water solubility index (98.04 +/- 0.016/100 g) and swelling capacity (0.055 +/- 0.002 g/g) were achieved at 140 degrees C spray drying temperature with 60% maltodextrin and 40% gum Arabic. At the ambient storage conditions (25 +/- 2 degrees C), the storage stability of ECA was 640 days (54.19% +/- 0.02%), CA was 130 days (52.46% +/- 0.14%) and the addition of ECA increased the OR's storage stability to 200 days (50.13% +/- 0.59%) with respect to the antioxidant activity. From the sensory evaluation, the OR and OR added with 0.2 g/100 mL ECA samples were preferred by the 100 panellists and liked immensely. Overall, the encapsulation of CA successfully masked the astringency and bitterness, improving the CA's stability and increasing the orange juice's storage stability with more consumer acceptability.