Encapsulation of bioactive phytochemicals from African native plants: Advancing food and nutrition security and healthy food systems

The increasing prevalence of hunger in many African nations highlights the urgent need to enhance the value of underutilized indigenous crops as a strategy to mitigate food and nutrition insecurity. Africa possesses a rich diversity of these crops, which are abundant in nutrients and phytochemicals with a range of health benefits, including the prevention of chronic diseases. To encourage the use of these crops, eradicate hunger, and mitigate malnutrition, it is essential to focus on their preservation and commercial development. Conventional preservation methods for African native plants (ANPs) such as fermentation, ashing, salting, and drying are often inadequate in maintaining certain nutrients and bioactive phytochemicals, including phenolic compounds, flavonoids, carotenoids, saponins, phytosterols, and hypoglycemic alkaloids. Encapsulation has emerged as a promising technique for protecting sensitive compounds found in plant extracts, enhancing their chemical stability, bioaccessibility, biological activity, and shelf-life. In spite of this, the extent to which encapsulation has been employed to preserve nutrients and bioactive compounds from ANPs is not adequately known. This review, based on a narrative literature review and partial bibliometric analysis, critically examines the encapsulation of bioactive compounds from underutilized African plants, with emphasis on encapsulation efficiency, stability, biological activity, and bioaccessibility. This paper also explores the potential of encapsulated ANP-derived compounds to improve food and nutrition security, identifies existing challenges, and discusses emerging opportunities.