Abstract
In the last few decades, the combination between nanotechnology and nutraceutics has gained the attention of several research groups. Nutraceuticals are considered as active compounds, abundant in natural products, showing beneficial effects on human health. Unfortunately, the uses, and consequently the health benefits, of many nutraceutical products are limited by their unsuitable chemico-physical features. For example, many nutraceuticals are characterized by low water solubility, low stability and high susceptibility to light and oxygen, poor absorption and potential chemical modifications after their administration. Based on the potential efficacy of nutraceuticals and on their limiting features, nanotechnology could be considered a revolutionary innovation in empowering the beneficial properties of nutraceuticals on human health, thus enhancing their efficacy in several diseases. For this reason, nanotechnology could represent a new frontier in supplementary food. In this review, the most recent nanotechnological approaches are discussed, focusing on their ability to improve the bioavailability of the most common nutraceuticals, providing an overview regarding both the advantages and the possible limitations of the use of several nanodelivery systems. In fact, although the efficacy of smart nanocarriers in improving health benefits deriving from nutraceuticals has been widely demonstrated, the conflicting opinions on the mechanism of action of some nanosystems still reduce their applicability in the therapeutic field.
Highlights
The term “nutraceutical” refers to a food substance, or a part of it, which possesses health benefits in terms of therapeutic or preventive effects [1]
We focused on how nutraceutical compounds derived from natural sources, such as plants or food, increasingly attract the interest of consumers, both for an increased importance of everything that is of natural origin and for an increased scientific evidence that confirm nutraceuticals benefits of human health
As we have seen in the results of the experimental works reported in this review, different carrier systems, such as nanoparticles, nanoemulsions, and vesicular systems, allow one to eliminate many of the limitations in the use of nutraceuticals
Summary
The term “nutraceutical” refers to a food substance, or a part of it, which possesses health benefits in terms of therapeutic or preventive effects [1]. In the last few years, there was an increase in nutraceuticals consumption among the consumers due to an increase in natural-derived compounds interest; to date, an increasing interest in the development of novel functional food is pushing towards the incorporation of nutraceuticals within food products. The awareness among consumers of the close correlation between these dangerous diseases and eating habits has increased. For this reason, consumers are increasingly attentive to the quality of the consumed food and increasingly interested in food that can have beneficial effects on their health and prevent the onset of dangerous diseases [8,9].
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