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Functional Food and Bioactive Food Ingredients for Health and/or Nutrition...
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Functional Food and Bioactive Food Ingredients for Health and/or Nutrition Claims

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutraceuticals, Functional Foods, and Novel Foods".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2024) | Viewed by 4503

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Weili Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Society, University of Chester, Chester, UK
Interests: extraction and characterization of bioactive components and incorporating them into functional food for adding nutrition value and health benefits; development of smart formulation and effective technology for bioavailability and bioactivity improvement in functional foods for health and/or nutrition improvement
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Zhengxiao Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Ocean Food and Biological Engineering, Jimei University, Xiamen, China
Interests: elucidating the role of food nutrition and gut microbial ecology in human metabolic health and immune function; developing precision medicine and nutrition therapeutic strategies that target the gut microbiome in a personalized way

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on functional food and bioactive food ingredients for Health and/or Nutrition Claims aims to collect recent fundamental and applied research on food bioactive compounds and nutraceutical ingredients with approved/potential health and/nutrition claims, such as plant bioactive compounds, dietary fibre, probiotics, prebiotics, functional lipids, bioactive peptides, vitamins, antioxidants, and functional foods, and their role in malnutrition and disease prevention and the proactive management of health and chronic conditions. In addition, we seek research on digestion and absorption characteristics, including studies of the microbiota and gut–organ axis and efficacy, bioavailability, and safety characterisation using in vivo animal and/or human studies, in vitro studies, and genomic, chemical, and biochemical technologies; finally, related technological aspects such as food processing, packaging, and storage, as well as regulatory issues (e.g., labelling, allergens, and the substantiation of health and/or nutrition claims), will be covered. This Special Issue welcomes papers with an interdisciplinary approach.

Prof. Dr. Weili Li
Dr. Zhengxiao Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • functional foods
  • bioactive food ingredients
  • health claims
  • nutrition claims
  • disease prevention and management

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2756 KiB  
Article
Evaluating the Stability and Digestibility of Long-Chain Omega-3 Algal Oil Nanoemulsions Prepared with Lecithin and Tween 40 Emulsifiers Using an In Vitro Digestion Model
by Qiqian Zhou, Katie E. Lane and Weili Li
Foods 2024, 13(15), 2407; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13152407 - 29 Jul 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1942
Abstract
The health benefits of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCn-3PUFA) intake have been well documented. However, currently, the consumption of oily fish (the richest dietary source of LCn-3PUFA) in the UK is far below the recommended level, and the low digestibility of LCn-3PUFA [...] Read more.
The health benefits of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCn-3PUFA) intake have been well documented. However, currently, the consumption of oily fish (the richest dietary source of LCn-3PUFA) in the UK is far below the recommended level, and the low digestibility of LCn-3PUFA bulk oil-based supplements from triglyceride-based sources significantly impacts their bioavailability. LCn-3PUFA-rich microalgal oil offers a potential alternative for populations who do not consume oily fish, and nanoemulsions have the potential to increase LCn-3PUFA digestibility and bioavailability. The aims of this study were to produce stable algal oil-in-water nanoemulsions with ultrasonic technology to increase DHA digestibility, measured using an in vitro digestion model. A nanoemulsion of LCn-3PUFA algal oil was developed with 6% w/w emulsifiers: lecithin (LE) or an equal ratio of Tween 40 (3%) and lecithin (LTN) (3%), 50% w/w, algal oil and 44% w/w water using rotor–stator and ultrasound homogenization. The in vitro digestion experiments were conducted with a gastric and duodenal digestion model. The results showed the creation of nanoemulsions of LCn-3PUFA algal oils offers potentially significant increases in the bioavailability of DHA in the human body. The increase in digestibility can be attributed to the smaller particle size of the nanoemulsions, which allows for higher absorption in the digestive system. This showed that the creation of nanoemulsions of LCn-3PUFA algal oils offers a potentially significant increase in the bioavailability of DHA in the human body. The LE and LTN nanoemulsions had average droplet sizes of 0.340 ± 0.00 µm and 0.267 ± 0.00 µm, respectively, but the algal oil mix (sample created with same the components as the LTN nanoemulsion, hand mixed, not processed by rotor–stator and ultrasound homogenization) had an average droplet size of 73.6 ± 6.98 µm. The LTN algal oil nanoemulsion was stable in the gastric and duodenal phases without detectable destabilization; however, the LE nanoemulsion showed signs of oil phase separation in the gastric phase. Under the same conditions, the amount of DHA digested from the LTN nanoemulsion was 47.34 ± 3.14 mg/g, compared to 16.53 ± 0.45 mg/g from the algal oil mix, showing DHA digestibility from the LTN nanoemulsion was 2.86 times higher. The findings of this study contribute to the insight of in vitro DHA digestion under different conditions. The stability of the LTN nanoemulsion throughout digestion suggests it could be a promising delivery system for LCn-3PUFAs, such as DHA, in various food and pharmaceutical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Food and Bioactive Food Ingredients for Health and/or Nutrition Claims)
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16 pages, 1042 KiB  
Article
Bioaccessibility, Intestinal Absorption and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Curcuminoids Incorporated in Avocado, Sunflower, and Linseed Beeswax Oleogels
by Patricia Ramírez-Carrasco, Ailén Alemán, Estefanía González, M. Carmen Gómez-Guillén, Paz Robert and Begoña Giménez
Foods 2024, 13(3), 373; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13030373 - 24 Jan 2024
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2083
Abstract
Beeswax oleogels (OGs), with a mechanical strength similar to pork backfat, were formulated with avocado (A), sunflower (S), and linseed (L) oils, applying a central composite design plus star point, and were evaluated as oral delivery vehicles of curcuminoids (OGACur, OGSCur, OGLCur). The [...] Read more.
Beeswax oleogels (OGs), with a mechanical strength similar to pork backfat, were formulated with avocado (A), sunflower (S), and linseed (L) oils, applying a central composite design plus star point, and were evaluated as oral delivery vehicles of curcuminoids (OGACur, OGSCur, OGLCur). The incorporation of curcumin into the OG matrix significantly delayed both the formation of peroxides and conjugated trienes (K268 values), and the degradation rate of curcumin decreased with the increase of the oil polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content. The oil structuring did not affect the bioaccessibility of curcuminoids (>55% in all the OGs, regardless of the oil type), but it did reduce the release of fatty acids (~10%) during in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. The intestinal absorption, evaluated in Caco-2 cell monolayers, was higher for the micelle-solubilized curcumin from the digested OG than from unstructured oils, and it showed high anti-inflammatory potential by inhibiting the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) production compared to the positive control, both before and after the stimulation of ThP-1 cells with LPS. Regardless of the oil type, these beeswax-based OGs with gel-like behavior designed as fat replacers may be promising vehicles for the oral delivery of curcuminoids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Food and Bioactive Food Ingredients for Health and/or Nutrition Claims)
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