Researchers from the Indian government’s National Dairy Institute located in the state of Haryana in northern India, have created ice cream using powdered turmeric so as to deliver the health benefits of curcumin – the main metabolite in turmeric – via a popular dessert.
Curcumin has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-parasitic attributes and supplements with curcumin are widely consumed; however, its application as a functional food ingredient hasn’t been widespread because of its “poor water solubility, extremely low absorption and bio availability, and rapid degradation under neutral and alkaline pH conditions” explain the researchers. To make the curcumin bioactives dissolve, the scientists used casein to emulsify and encapsulate the curcumin thereby turning them into nanoemulsions reports Nutra Ingredients.
The researchers noted that ice cream is a suitable dairy product for the delivery of lipophilic bioactive components (curcumin) which can be used for therapeutic purposes.
