Nature-Assembled Structures for Delivery of Bioactive Compounds and Their Potential in Functional Foods

Abstract

Consumers are demanding more natural, healthy, and high-quality products. The addition of health-promoting substances, such as bioactive compounds, to foods can boost their therapeutic effect. However, the incorporation of bioactive substances into food products involves several technological challenges. They may have low solubility in water or poor stability in the food environment and/or during digestion, resulting in a loss of their therapeutic properties. Over recent years, the encapsulation of bioactive compounds into laboratory-engineered colloidal structures has been successful in overcoming some of these hurdles. However, several nature-assembled colloidal structures could be employed for this purpose and may offer many advantages over laboratory-engineered colloidal structures. For example, the casein micelles and milk fat globules from milk and the oil bodies from seeds were designed by nature to deliver biological material or for storage purposes. These biological functional properties make them good candidates for the encapsulation of bioactive compounds to aid in their addition into foods. This review discusses the structure and biological function of different nature-assembled carriers, preparation/isolation methods, some of the advantages and challenges in their use as bioactive compound delivery systems, and their behavior during digestion.

Excess serum Na level in rats administered with high doses of (−)-epigallocatechin gallate-casein nanoparticles prepared with sodium caseinate

“…33 Natural products, such as vitamin D, curcumin, naringenin, resveratrol and omega-3 fatty acids, can be well encapsulated inside casein nanomicelles. 34 Theoretically, these nanocomposites or nanoparticles need to be evaluated for safety as food, since the nanoparticles were majorly prepared with sodium caseins. The present study may be valuable for the understanding of the safety of the nutrients encapsulated inside casein nanomicelles.…”

Functional Significance of Different Milk Constituents in Modulating the Gut Microbiome and Infant Health

“…Furthermore, milk PL liposomes were more stable than their soy counterparts at various storage and processing temperatures, including changes in pH conditions . The MFGM-derived phospholipids can potentially encapsulate hydrophobic and hydrophilic bioactive molecules . Recently, the MFGM glycoproteins (MUC1) have been preferred for encapsulating LAB .…”

Carica papaya leaf ethanol extract effect on milk volume, β-casein gene (Csn2) expression, β-casein levels, and milk total protein levels

“…Khor et al showed that the main constituent of papaya leaf extract is flavonoid 52 , where this compound is the main phytochemical component in several types of herbal galactagogues such as Moringa and Foenicullum. Avecedo-Fani et al stated that the structure of casein micelles can be "assembled" with the addition of quercetin, based on the LCMS/MS analysis, quercetin is one of the flavonoid compounds found in Carica papaya leaf in large amount (unpublished data), so the administration of Carica papaya leaf extract can indirectly involve in increasing β-casein levels 53 .…”