Journal of Tea Science Research, 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 19-43 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/jtsr 30 the WTE-loaded liposomes and the SEM image showed that the particle diameter of the liposomes did not change significantly after 6 months of storage (326.27 nm), although the microencapsulation efficiency decreased to 52% (Ahmadi et al., 2022). It is noteworthy that the addition of cholesterol to the liposomal formulations can enhance the stability by preventing the phase transition of phospholipids. The encapsulation technologies would open new perspectives for the exploitation of WTE-loaded nanoparticles for nutraceutical applications. 4 Application Potential of White Tea in Food and Therapeutic Industries The abundance of bioactive phytochemicals in white tea ensures its application potential in human nutrition and disease treatment. White tea has been widely used in foods and therapeutics as an antimicrobial/antioxidant and disease treatment agent (Table 5; Table 6). A variety of other health benefits of white tea have also been reported and recently reviewed by Zhou et al. (2023) and Hinojosa-Nogueira et al. (2021). The following sections aim to provide a specific update on the recent discoveries of the applications of white tea in food and nutraceutical fields. Table 5 Food applications of white tea Food applications Effects Reference Films Active edible furcellaran/whey protein films with white tea extracts WTEs exhibited antioxidant and antimicrobial activities Pluta-Kubica et al., 2020 Chitosan films with white tea showed strong antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa Stefanowska et al., 2023 Beef White tea powder effectively inhibited lipid oxidation in beef mince during refrigerated storage for 7 days Kırmızıkaya et al., 2021 Candies WTE was used as a base ingredient to produce candies with antioxidant and microbial stability Šeremet et al., 2020 Total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of white tea based candies notably decreased by the end of storage for 4 months and the gelatine formulation exhibited slightly better retention of bioactive compounds Mandura et al., 2020 Popsicle The popsicles formulated with animal proteins and WTE showed the highest antioxidant activity Santos et al., 2020 Kombucha Kombucha made with white tea in the first week of fermentation had the lowest fluoride content, which is a desirable trait in terms of food safety and preventing fluoride exposure Jakubczyk et al., 2021 4.1 Food applications 4.1.1 Antimicrobial activity Pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms are known to pose a major threat to human health and food quality. To inhibit their growth, antimicrobial agents are commonly added to foods to prevent and control foodborne pathogens and spoilages. However, due to growing concerns about the safety of chemical additives, the use of natural antimicrobial compounds as alternatives to conventional synthetic chemicals has attracted considerable interest from both consumers and the food industry (Hou et al., 2021). Common examples of food outbreaks are the Staphylococcus aureus food poisoning and the Salmonella typhimurium infection, which cause toxic symptoms and gastrointestinal infection. The main spoilage microbes in food products include bacteria, such as Enterobacteriaceae, Lactobacilli, and Pseudomonas species, yeasts and molds, such as Saccharomyces, Aspergillus, and Penicillium species (Takó et al., 2020). The major bioactive components in white tea, i.e., polyphenols, have been described to exhibit antimicrobial activity through multiple mechanisms, including destruction of cell membrane structure, changing bacterial cell morphology, and metal ion complexation (Zhang et al., 2021).
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