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Polyphenols-rich plant extracts such as green tea catechins and turmeric curcuminoids are extensively studied for their antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. However, their poor stability, low bioavailability and strong undesirable flavors limit their application in functional foods. This study investigates the synergistic anti-cancer activity combinations of green tea and turmeric extracts against Huh7 liver cancer cells and evaluates the effect of encapsulation on their stability, bioavailability, sensory properties and consumer acceptance. A combination extract (COE) in a 2:1 ratio (12.5,6.25 μg/mL) significantly reduced Huh7 cell viability, with a combination index of 0.15 ± 0.05 indicating strong synergy. To overcome limitations in bioaccessibility and palatability, COE was encapsulated using pectin, maltodextrin, and inulin via freeze-drying, resulting in the encapsulated combination extract (ECOE) with high encapsulation efficiencies (79.52 ± 3.01 % for catechins and 82.14 ± 1.99 % for curcuminoids). Simulated in vitro digestion showed greater retention of bioactives in ECOE compared to COE. GC-E-Nose analysis and sensory evaluation confirmed significant reductions in pungent volatile compounds, bitterness, and astringency, with significantly higher consumer liking scores for ECOE across all attributes. These findings highlight a dual-functional strategy, synergistic extract design with optimized encapsulation that enhances both biological efficacy and sensory acceptability, supporting scalable applications in functional foods and nutraceuticals.
Singh et al. (Tue,) studied this question.