Effect of edible antioxidants on chemical stability of ß-carotene loaded nanostructured lipid carriers

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) containing ß-carotene was produced using solvent diffusion method. Edible antioxidants of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), vitamin E and vitamin C were successfully incorporated in NLC to protect ß-carotene. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed in order to evaluate the effect of different antioxidants on ß-carotene stability. A quadratic polynomial model was fitted to empirical data with high accuracy. The ß-carotene retention improved with raising the BHT concentration while addition of vitamin C resulted in ß-carotene instability. Increasing the vitamin E concentration first elevated the ß-carotene degradation rate and then decreased it. However, the total effect of vitamin E alone was less significant. The statistical analysis demonstrated that the interactions between BHT and two other antioxidants had important effect on ß-carotene stability. The optimum formulations predicted by the model contained BHT and vitamin E combinations. They had minimum ß-carotene degradations of 2.12–4.51% which were in a reasonable agreement with model predictions. Furthermore, particles size analysis indicated that addition of antioxidants to NLCs results in production of larger nanoparticles. •Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) with high β-carotene retention were formulated.•A model predicting effect of antioxidants on β-carotene stability was developed.•Vitamin C dramatically increased the β-carotene degradation.•Interactions of BHT with vitamin E and C had major impact on β-carotene stability.•Combination of BHT and vitamin E provided the best protection of β-carotene.