Advances in preparation, interaction and stimulus responsiveness of protein-based nanodelivery systems.

The improved understanding of the connection between diet and health has led to growing interest in the development of functional foods designed to improve health and wellbeing. Many of the potentially health-promoting bioactive ingredients that food manufacturers would like to incorporate into these products are difficult to utilize because of their chemical instability, poor solubility, or low bioavailability. For this reason, nano-based delivery systems are being developed to overcome these problems. Food proteins possess many functional attributes that make them suitable for formulating various kinds of nanocarriers, including their surface activity, water binding, structuring, emulsification, gelation, and foaming, as well as their nutritional aspects. Proteins-based nanocarriers are therefore useful for introducing bioactive ingredients into functional foods, especially for their targeted delivery in specific applications.This review focusses on the preparation, properties, and applications of protein-based nanocarriers, such as nanoparticles, micelles, nanocages, nanoemulsions, and nanogels. In particular, we focus on the development and application of stimulus-responsive protein-based nanocarriers, which can be used to release bioactive ingredients in response to specific environmental triggers. Finally, we discuss the potential and future challenges in the design and application of these protein-based nanocarriers in the food industry.

Recent advances in natural gums as additives to help the construction and application of edible biopolymer gels: the example of hydrogels and oleogels.

Novel, innovative approaches like edible gels (hydrogels and oleogels) are important food materials with great scientific interest due to their positive impacts on structural and functional foods and other unique properties. Biopolymers (protein, starch and other polysaccharides) can be excellent and cost-effective materials for the formed edible gels. Recently, natural gums, although also as biopolymers, are preferred as additives to further improve the textural and functional properties of edible gels, which have received extensive attention. However, these studies have not been outlined in previous reviews. In this review, we highlighted the advantages of gums as additives to construct edible gels. Moreover, the various roles (including electrostatic or covalent interactions) for natural gums in regulation of food gel properties (solvent-holding and rheological properties) are highlighted. Finally, the use of natural gums as additives to improve the stability and targeted delivery of phytochemicals in food gels and their application in food systems are summarized. The information covered in this article may be useful for the design of functional foods that can better meet personalized needs of people.

The inhibitory mechanism of amylase inhibitors and research progress in nanoparticle-based inhibitors.

Type 2 diabetes is caused by persistently high blood sugar levels, which leads to metabolic dysregulation and an increase in the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. High levels of rapidly digestible starches within foods may contribute to high blood sugar levels. Amylase inhibitors can reduce amylase activity, thereby inhibiting starch hydrolysis, and reducing blood sugar levels. Currently, amylase inhibitors are usually chemically synthesized substances, which can have undesirable side effects on the human body. The development of amylase inhibitors from food-grade ingredients that can be incorporated into the human diet is therefore of great interest. Several classes of phytochemicals, including polyphenols and flavonoids, have been shown to inhibit amylase, including certain types of food-grade nanoparticles. In this review, we summarize the main functions and characteristics of amylases within the human body, as well as their interactions with amylase inhibitors. A strong focus is given to the utilization of nanoparticles as amylase inhibitors. The information covered in this article may be useful for the design of functional foods that can better control blood glucose levels, which may help reduce the risk of diabetes and other diet-related diseases.

Fabrication and characterization of polydopamine-mediated zein-based nanoparticle for delivery of bioactive molecules.

In this study, a combination of whey protein (hydrophilic coating) and polydopamine (crosslinking agent) was used to improve the stability and functionality of quercetin-loaded zein nanoparticles. There are two key benefits of the core-shell nanoparticles formed. First, the ability of the polydopamine to bind to both zein and whey protein facilitates the formation of a stable core-shell structure, thereby protecting quercetin from any pro-oxidants in the aqueous surroundings. Second, neutral and hydrophilic whey proteins were used for the surface coating of the nanoparticles to further enhance the sustained and slow release of quercetin, facilitating its sustained release into the body at a slow and steady rate. The results of this study will promote the innovative development of precise nutritional delivery systems for zein and provide a theoretical basis for the design and development of dietary supplements based on hydrophobic food nutrient molecules.

Physicochemical stability, antioxidant activity, and antimicrobial activity of quercetin-loaded zein nanoparticles coated with dextrin-modified anionic polysaccharides.

Core-shell biopolymer nanoparticles are assembled from a hydrophobic protein (zein) core and a hydrophilic polysaccharide (carboxymethyl dextrin) shell. The nanoparticles were shown to have good stability and the ability to protect quercetin from chemical degradation under long-term storage, pasteurization, and UV irradiation. Spectroscopy analysis shows that electrostatic, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions are the main driving forces for the formation of composite nanoparticles. Quercetin coated with nanoparticles significantly enhanced its antioxidant and antibacterial activities and showed good stability and slow release in vitro during simulated gastrointestinal digestion. Furthermore, the encapsulation efficiency of carboxymethyl dextrin-coated zein nanoparticles (81.2%) for quercetin was significantly improved compared with that of zein nanoparticles alone (58.4%). These results indicate that carboxymethyl dextrin-coated zein nanoparticles can significantly improve the bioavailability of hydrophobic nutrient molecules such as quercetin and provide a valuable reference for their application in the field of biological delivery of energy drinks and food.

Complexation of curcumin with cyclodextrins adjusts its binding to plasma proteins.

Curcumin shows poor bioaccessibility due to its poor water solubility, which limits its application in aqueous formulations, and the weak binding to plasma proteins, which hinders its transportation to targeted sites through the systemic circulation. In this study, we explored the potential of a cyclodextrin derivative, succinic acid-ß-cyclodextrin (SACD), to overcome these problems. Complexation of curcumin to SACD significantly increased its water-dispersibility and enhanced its binding to a model plasma protein: bovine serum albumin (BSA). The binding constant and number of binding sites of the ligand-protein system increased from 3.87 × 103 to 1.52 × 105 L mol-1 s-1 and from 0.80 to 1.15 in the absence and presence of SACD, respectively. The presence of SACD also reduced the ability of curcumin to promote conformational changes in BSA. For instance, the thermal denaturation temperatures of BSA in BSA-curcumin mixtures was 65.3 °C and 67.0 °C in the absence and presence of SACD, respectively, compared to 67.8 °C for pure BSA. These effects were attributed to the fact that SACD forms an inclusion complex with curcumin and modulates the binding of curcumin with BSA, which may affect the biological accessibility of curcumin in the systemic circulation.

Self-healing, stretchable, and freezing-resistant hydroxypropyl starch-based double-network hydrogels.

Starch hydrogel is a biocompatible and biodegradable material. However, due to its poor mechanical properties and fragility, starch hydrogel has limited applications in the food and medicine industries. In this work, we prepared stretchable, compressible, and self-healing double-network (DN) hydrogels using hydroxypropyl starch (HPS) and sodium alginate (SA). By adjusting the amount of sodium alginate added, the DN hydrogels achieved adjustable mechanical properties. The storage modulus of the DN hydrogels with 1% SA increased by nearly 80 times compared with that of pure HPS hydrogels. When prepared in a water/glycerol binary mixed solvent, the DN hydrogels can maintain their gel properties at -30 ºC. These environmentally friendly and biocompatible hydrogels have broad application prospects in the fields of agriculture, food, and medicine.