Comparative differences in the behavior of TiO₂ and SiO₂ food additives in food ingredient solutions

Nanotechnology is widely used in the food industry to improve the color, taste, and texture of food products. However, concerns regarding potential undesirable health effects remain. It is expected that interaction of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) with food ingredients will influence their behavior and the resulting corona. Nonetheless, there are limited systematic studies conducted to clarify this understanding to date. Herein, we investigated the behavior and corona formation of food grade titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and silicon dioxide (SiO₂) in solutions of model food ingredients including bovine serum albumin (BSA) and sucrose. Measurements using dynamic light scattering (DLS) showed that both TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanoparticles displayed a decrease in agglomerate sizes in the presence of both food ingredients. Both particles were negatively charged in all the conditions tested. Corona adsorption studies were carried out using multiple complementary methods including Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), micro bicinchoninic acid (BCA) protein assay, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Comparative investigation showed that sucrose could disperse both particles more effectively than BSA and that SiO₂ displayed greater adsorption capacity for both BSA and sucrose, compared to TiO₂. Taken collectively, this study demonstrated the importance of considering food ingredient effects when mapping the behavior of ENMs in food products. Such understanding could be significant in the evaluation of biological effects, such as toxicity, of ENMs used in food products.