The stability and bioavailability of curcumin loaded α-lactalbumin nanocarriers formulated in functional dairy drink. (October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Qimeng; Yu, Weizu; Li, Zekun; Liu, Bin; Hu, Yulin; Chen, Shanan; de Vries, Renko; Yuan, Yu; Erazo Quintero, Laura Estefania; Hou, Guohua; Hu, Changli; Li, Yuan
• Is Part Of: Food hydrocolloids. Volume 131(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-10
• Subjects: Curcumin -- α-Lactalbumin -- Nanocarriers -- Stability -- Bioavailability -- Dairy drinks; Hydrocolloids -- Periodicals; Food additives -- Periodicals; Colloïdes -- Périodiques; Aliments -- Additifs -- Périodiques; Colloids; Food additives; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 664.06
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodhyd.2022.107807
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-005X

Abstract

Abstract: There is a high demand for the development of functional foods formulated with health-promoting carotenoids. Curcumin (Cur) is one of the most promising carotenoids, but its application in functional foods especially drinks is limited due to its poor water solubility, low stability and bioavailability. Nanocarriers have shown great potential to solve these problems. In this work, Cur was loaded into nanocarriers made of self-assembly of partially hydrolyzing α-lactalbumin (α-lac). Cur functional dairy drinks were developed by adding Cur-loaded nanocarriers (nanocarriers (Cur)) into dairy drinks, and their colloidal stability and bioavailability were evaluated. The results showed that Cur exhibited intestine-responsive release behavior due to the unique nanospheres micellar structure that the hydrophobic cutting sites were buried in the core and not easily accessible to pepsin. In addition, the α-lac nanocarriers improved the stability of Cur against ultraviolet light. Furthermore, static and accelerated stability experiments showed that nanocarriers (Cur) dairy drinks possessed excellent colloidal stability. According to the sensory evaluation, the addition of nanocarriers (Cur) to dairy drinks significantly improved the perception score of stability and overall assessment. Moreover, nanocarriers (Cur) dairy drinks showed the highest Cur bioavailability. Therefore, the embedding via α-lac nanocarriers is feasible for applying Cur to functional dairy drinks and has broad prospects in the food industry. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: α-Lac nanomicelles hide the hydrophobic cutting sites of pepsin. Cur showed an intestinal responsive release as the unique micellar structure. The Cur-loaded nanocarriers showed high compatibility in the functional dairy drinks. Nanocarriers (Cur) added dairy drinks improved their sensory perception. Nanocarriers (Cur) functional dairy drink showed the highest Cur bioavailability.