ORIGINAL PAPER Encapsulation of Functional Lipophilic Food and Drug Biocomponents S ¸ tefan Dima • Cristian Dima • Gabriela Iorda ˘chescu Received: 30 June 2014 / Accepted: 22 February 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract Lipophilic biocomponents pose a real challenge to food and drug researchers because they have weak solubility in water and cannot be easily included into the food and drug matrix. Biomaterials with new functional properties, i.e. biodegradable, biocompatible and stimulus responsive, have been tested for the purpose of improving the solubility and bioavailability of lipophilic components in recent years. Also, high-performance micro- and nan- otechnologies were involved. These were used to prepare microcapsules and nanocarriers with multiple applications in food industry and pharmacy. The micro- and nano-en- capsulation of lipophilic components is used to increase and maintain solubility in physiological fluids or the food matrix, to improve bioavailability and to protect the bioactive compounds against the aggression of some fac- tors such as pH, enzymes, temperature, light and oxygen. The microcapsule and nanocarrier delivery systems guar- antee the controlled and targeted delivery of bioactive molecules, thus increasing the therapeutic potential of drugs, along with food safety and security. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the newest information about the lipophilic biocomponents’ encapsulation. The first part of the paper is devoted to data on the solubility and bioavailability of lipophilic components used for food and drug formulations. The second part deals with the main methods of lipophilic compounds encapsulation, evincing the preparation of nanoparticles with applicability in the food and drug industry. Keywords Lipophilic biocomponents  Bioavailability  Nanocarriers  Food  Drug Introduction Lipophilic components are involved in the various metabolic processes taking place in the human body. Some of these components are synthesized by the body itself (lipids, proteins, hormones), while others, such as vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), are not, even if the body needs them [16, 46]. The lipophilic components’ content which the body needs is assured by food and nutraceutical supplements. Lipophilic biocomponents pose a real challenge to food and drug researchers: they have low solubility in water and cannot be easily included into the food and drug matrix [58, 81, 114]. The number of scientific papers on lipophilic biocom- ponents published in related journals in the past few years has significantly increased [15, 83, 161]. This is proof that the research in the lipophilic biocomponents area is a complex activity, being part of an interdisciplinary studies’ assembly which includes experts from various fields: chemistry, biochemistry, physics, engineering, materials science, food science, pharmacy, medicine, etc. Here are some of the most important subjects on the encapsulation of lipophilic biocomponents approached so far: • preparation of new biomaterials used in the lipophilic components’ encapsulation; S ¸ . Dima Faculty of Sciences and Environment, 111 Domneasca St., 800201 Galat ¸i, Romania C. Dima  G. Iorda ˘chescu (&) Faculty of Food Science and Engineering, 111 Domneasca St., 800201 Galat ¸i, Romania e-mail: gabriela.iordachescu@ugal.ro 123 Food Eng Rev DOI 10.1007/s12393-015-9115-1