Shielding the Gut! Double-coated Nanoliposomes Enhance the Bioavailability and Bioactivity of Hesperetin for Intestinal Health

Summary

Food functional ingredients are attractive to people because they are expected to have health-promoting properties. Flavanone hesperetin (HST) is one of these appealing functional ingredients from citrus, but its poor water solubility and low intestinal absorption limit its potential in the therapy applications of chronic intestinal inflammation. In this case, encapsulation is proposed to tackle these issues.
This thesis aimed to investigate how encapsulation could impact the bioavailability and bioactivities of HST in the gastrointestinal tract. By using different in vitro models, the carrageenan and chitosan coated nanoliposomes improved the bioavailability and anti-inflammatory properties of HST in the small intestine, modulated the interaction between HST and gut microbiota, and had the potential to develop a functional food with a milk matrix. These results show that carrageenan and chitosan coated nanoliposomes as a promising encapsulation method for functional ingredients.