Malt endogenous amylase-hydrolyzed nanostarch for anthocyanin encapsulation by nanoprecipitation: Fabrication, characterization and evaluation.

Anthocyanins, despite their remarkable physiological activities, suffer from poor stability, restricting their applications. In this study, malt endogenous amylase-hydrolyzed cassava nanostarch (MCS) was used as a carrier to prepare MCS/anthocyanin (MCS/ANTH) composite nanoparticles via nanoprecipitation method. The optimal preparation parameters were determined as follows: temperature 30 °C, ethanol volume 70 %, ANTH concentration 3 mg/mL, MCS concentration 4 mg/mL, and pH 4.0, under which the encapsulation efficiency (EE) and loading capacity (LC) reached 78.23 % and 75.65 %, respectively. The composite nanoparticles showed an increased particle size (from 520 nm to 659 nm) with ANTH encapsulated possibly via hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions, as confirmed by CLSM and FTIR. They exhibited sustained in vitro release, improved storage stability (51.68 % retained after 21 days), and preserved long-term antioxidant activity (89.43 % DPPH scavenging at 8 h). This research provides theoretical guidance for the development of novel anthocyanin preparations and their application in precision nutrition interventions.