As caffeine absorption from the gastrointestinal tract is
rapid and reaches 99% in humans about 45 min after ingestion
, efforts to control the release of caffeine
after ingestion may be beneficial for food and nutraceutical
applications. So far, attempts to entrap caffeine by microencapsulation
have been conducted using combined cross-linking treatments
of bovine serum albumin gel beadlets ,
gelatin capsules coated with ethylcellulose , hydrogenated and fluorinated gel emulsions and cubic phases and concentrated W/O emulsions
, while alginate hydrogels combined
with other natural polysaccharides have not been used so
far as carriers for encapsulation of caffeine.