Health, Nutrition, & Food Spray drying encapsulation of stevia extract with maltodextrin and evaluation of the physicochemical and functional properties of produced powders Maria Rosa T. Zorzenon , Maysa Formigoni , Sandra B. da Silva, Fabiane Hodas, Silvano Piovan, Simone R. Ciotta, Cler A. Jansen, Antonio S. Dacome, Eduardo J. Pilau, Cecília E. Mareze-Costa, Paula G. Milani, and Silvio C. Costa Abstract: This work aimed to formulate and perform physicochemical and functional characterization of maltodextrin microcapsules containing ethanolic extract of stevia,rich in antioxidant compounds,encapsulated by a spray-drying process with two maltodextrins (DE10 and DE19). The powders were named M10 and M19, respectively. We analyzed the physicochemical parameters, antidiabetic activity, cytotoxicity, bioaccessibility of the compounds by in vitro digestion, as well as the structure of the microcapsules by scanning electron microscopy.Microcapsules showed higher solubility (∼35%), lower moisture content (∼29%), and the maltodextrin DE10 had higher efciency as an encapsulating agent (87%) when compared to DE19 (76%) and showed well-defned spherical structures. The microencapsulation preserved the content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity present in the extract (7.2% and 87.5%, respectively). The bioaccessibility of these microencapsulated compounds and antioxidant activity were higher under diferent conditions of in vitro digestion (mouth, gastric, and intestinal conditions) and showed no cytotoxic efects. We identifed 41 compounds (by UHPLC-MS/MS-Qtof) related to the nutritional benefts ofered by stevia and the microencapsulation technique can be recommended to preserve bioactive compounds. Keywords: in vitro digestion, maltodextrin, microcapsules, spray-dryer, stevia leaves, UHPLC-MS Practical Application: Ethanol extract from stevia leaves contains antioxidant phytochemicals related to the nutritional benefts of stevia.However,this extract presents low solubility and consequently low bioaccessibility under in vitro digestion. The microencapsulation process protects the bioactive compounds of the diferent pH from digestion and improves the physical-chemical parameters of the extract,increasing its applicability as a possible food additive. 1. INTRODUCTION Microencapsulation technology is based on incorporating substances into a matrix to preserve the physical structure of the retained compounds, protect them from degradation by environmental factors, such as sunlight, oxygen, moisture, and heat, prevent exposure of the volatile compounds, inhibit possible adverse efects of compounds on the body, and increase bioac- cessibility by controlling the release of encapsulated substances (Chen, Gnanaraj, Arulselvan, El-Seedi, & Teng, 2019). Some commonly used methods for encapsulating food ingredi- ents are extrusion, coacervation, freezing, and spray-drying (Edris, Kalemba, Adamiec, & Piaotkowski, 2016). Among these, spray- JFDS-2020-0521 Submitted 3/31/2020, Accepted 8/10/2020. Authors Zorzenon, Formigoni, da Silva, and Ciotta are with Postgraduate Program in Food Science, State University of Maringá (UEM), 5790, Colombo Avenue, Zip-code 87020–900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil. Authors Zorzenon, Formigoni, Hodas, Ciotta, Dacome, Milani, and Costa are with Biochemistry Department, State University of Maringá (UEM), 5790, Colombo Avenue, Zip-code 87020–900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil. Authors Jansen and Pilau are with Laboratory of Biomolecules and Mass Spectrometry, Chemistry Department, State University of Maringá (UEM), 5790, Colombo Avenue, Zip-code 87020–900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil. Authors Piovan and Mareze-Costa are with Physiological Sciences Department, State University of Maringá (UEM), 5790, Colombo Avenue, Zip-code 87020–900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil. Author Jansen is with Postgraduate Program in Cell Biology, State University of Maringá (UEM), 5790, Colombo Avenue, Zip-code 87020–900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil. Direct inquiries to author Zorzenon (E-mail: mariarosazorzenon@hotmail.com). drying is the most widely applied physical method in the phar- maceutical and food industries, as phenolic compounds are easily encapsulated and their bioactivity can be preserved (Chen et al., 2019). Besides, spray drying is superior to lyophilization in terms of retention of phenolic compounds and protects the antioxidant activity of powders when subjected to harsh processes and storage conditions (Assadpour & Jafari, 2019). In food, carbohydrates, such as maltodextrin, are broadly used as encapsulating agents due to their low cost, high solubility and efciency, good taste, lack of color, increased oxidation resistance, and absence of sweet taste (Hussain et al., 2018). Maltodextrins are composed of D-glucose units connected by glycosidic bonds (α1- 4), providing D-glucose polymers of variable length and, therefore, diferent molecular weight. The number of reducing sugars is de- fned by the equivalent value of dextrose (DE), which is calculated based on dry weight, ranging from 0 to 20. The DE value directly interferes with the physicochemical parameters,such as hygroscop- icity and solubility (Castro, Durrieu, Raynaud, & Rouilly, 2016). These properties make them the most commonly used wall mate- rials in microencapsulation (Mahdavi, Jafari, Assadpoor, & Dehnad, 2016). Also, maltodextrin is efcient and stable in encapsulating natural products, such as constituents of stevia (Chranioti, Chani- oti, & Tzia, 2016; Zorzenon et al., 2019). Phenolic compounds are unstable compounds that could be better preserved by this tech- nology. Plant leaf extracts rich in polyphenolic compounds have at- tracted great commercial interest to develop functional food due © 2020 Institute of Food Technologists® doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.15437 Vol. 00, Iss. 0, 2020  Journal of Food Science 1 Further reproduction without permission is prohibited