Lipid nanocarriers for phytochemical delivery in foods

Abstract

The delivery of different bioactive compounds in foods is a popular and convenient approach to provide healthy functional foods, but it usually requires an additional step—encapsulation—to provide functional foods with maintained efficacy of active compounds. For that purpose, the usage of matrix originated from natural sources, which are biocompatible and biodegradable, is the demand of customers; therefore, lipid nanocarriers are favored compared to polymeric carrier,s and they have been extensively studied over the last decades. This chapter aims to offer the current state-of-the art in lipid nanocarriers technology for phytochemicals delivery in foods. The main focus is given to solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, lipid nanoemulsions, and nanoliposomes. Better control of drug release in comparison to more frequently used delivery systems, delayed rate of degradation, possibility to evade biotoxicity of carriers, and possibility of industrial scale production assert the solid lipid nanoparticles as a promising tool to successfully deliver phytochemicals. Nanostructured lipid carriers are considered as the “new generation” of solid lipid nanoparticles. Due to the different domains in the structure of nanostructured lipid carriers, they enable better retention of actives and higher encapsulation efficiency and reduce the possibility of burst effect during storage, thus providing extensive physical stability. Lipid nanoemulsions are also interesting due to the fact that they can be added into foodstuff without compromising the sensorial properties of the food. Finally, nanoliposomes are being increasingly used in food and beverage industries to deliver various antioxidant and antimicrobial agents from plant sources. Anyway, more extensive research has to be conducted to define the digestion and metabolism pattern of nanocarriers not only to ensure optimal consumption levels and appropriate product formulations, but also to analyze the costs of the industrial scale production.