New insights on bio-based micro- and nanosystems in food

Abstract

The application of micro- and nanotechnologies in the food industry have been widely studied and reported due to an increasing growth of public awareness for the consumption of healthy food products. Consequently, food industry players have become highly interested in the development and application of innovative food-grade micro- and nanosystems intended for the protection and controlled delivery of bioactive compounds. This can be achieved by resorting to novel state of the art methodologies (i.e., top-down and bottom-up strategies) that take advantage of the functional properties of such ingredients, so that they can be used to protect and release, in a controlled manner, bioactive compounds. To evaluate effectiveness of these micro- and nanosystems it is of utmost importance to evaluate their behavior when incorporated in food products, in order to perceive potential interactions with biomolecules, as well as under gastrointestinal (GI) digestion. In vitro \GI\ models have been used since they provide accurate results, are relatively inexpensive, and do not raise ethical issues, and most of all can be correlated with those obtained in vivo.