Utilizing food effects to overcome challenges in delivery of lipophilic bioactives: structural design of medical and functional foods.
BACKGROUND
The oral bioavailability of many lipophilic bioactives, such as pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, is relatively low due to their poor solubility, permeability and/or chemical stability within the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT). The oral bioavailability of lipophilic bioactives can be improved by designing food matrices that control their release, solubilization, transport and absorption within the GIT.


METHODS
This article discusses the challenges associated with delivering lipophilic bioactive components, the impact of food composition and structure on oral bioavailability and the design of functional and medical foods for improving the oral bioavailability of lipophilic bioactives.


CONCLUSIONS
Food-based delivery systems can be used to improve the oral bioavailability of lipophilic bioactives. There are a number of potential advantages to delivering lipophilic bioactives using functional or medical foods: greater compliance than conventional delivery forms; increased bioavailability and efficacy; and reduced variability in biological effects. However, food matrices are structurally complex multicomponent materials and research is still needed to identify optimum structures and compositions for particular bioactives.
University of Massachusetts, Department of Food Science , Amherst, MA 01003 , USA +1 413 545 1019 ; mcclements@foodsci.umass.edu.
David Julian
DJ
McClements
D000818:Animals; D001682:Biological Availability; D005502:Food; D018565:Food-Drug Interactions; D055951:Functional Food; D006801:Humans; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations