Abstract
Many nutritional supplements are hydrophobic compounds that demonstrate poor aqueous solubility, are difficult to incorporate into hydrophilic matrices, and may result in limited bioavailability. Edible films represent a promising oral delivery method that could overcome these limitations, but these films generally incorporate low amounts of hydrophobic solids. The objective of this study was to increase the loading capacity of a hydrophobic nutritional supplement in edible films, and to enhance the taste quality of these films.
Highlights
- Edible films have been prepared that incorporate vitamin D3.
- Edible films contained the recommended dietary allowance for this vitamin.
- Edible films that include vitamin D3 and excipients exhibit moderate taste intensity.
- Edible films that include vitamin D3 and excipients exhibit positive hedonic scores.
- Vitamin D3-containing films are flexible with thicknesses near 50 μm.
For preparing films, vitamin D3 and myristyl alcohol were briefly heated and cooled to form a waxy solid, which was then pulverized and added to a liquid polymer solution. The solution was sonicated to produce a stable oil-in-water emulsion that in turn was dried to a flexible film. Films were successfully prepared that contained either 720 IU or 3600 IU of vitamin D3. Films with vitamin D3 contained microparticles that were distributed throughout the film. For all formulations, film thickness was less than 70 μm.
Films exhibited low water content, high tensile strength, Young’s modulus values less than 25 megapascals, and dissolution rates near 60 s. Films that included the excipients sucralose and peppermint oil produced taste intensities in the moderate range and improved the hedonic ratings of these films. This conditionally essential vitamin was successfully integrated into edible films at amounts that met the adult recommended dietary allowance for this vitamin. In summary, these oral films represent a promising approach for increasing the loading capacities of films for delivering water-insoluble solids to the oral cavity.
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Materials for preparing edible films
Edible films were prepared as previously described (Cherian, Lee, Tucker, Lee, & Smutzer, 2018; Ebba et al., 2012; Smutzer & Elamin, 2025). Briefly, food grade pullulan (EastChem Co., Ltd., China) functioned as the water-soluble polymer. Food coloring (McCormick & Co., Hunt Valley, MD) was obtained from a local supermarket. Filtered water was obtained in-house, glycerol was from Fisher Scientific (Hampton, NH), and sucralose was from Sweet Solutions (Edison, NJ). Peppermint oil.
Gregory Smutzer, Omar Elamin, Felipe P. Lacerda, Sai P. Karanam, Pingwen Lin, The development of rapidly dissolving oral films that contain a hydrophobic nutritional supplement, Food Research International: Reports, 2026, 100015, ISSN 3117-3829, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frinr.2026.100015.
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