ABSTRACT
One of the major challenges in the development and improvement of functional food is protecting the activity and bioavailability of the bioactive compounds during food processing, storage and passage through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and the efficient absorption through cells. The advent of nanotechnology coupled with innovative approaches and processing technologies has enabled crucial advances that led to novel applications in a variety of industrial and consumer products, particularly in encapsulation area for introducing novel and safe delivery vehicles of bioactive compounds in the GI tract. The survival and activity of encapsulated biocompounds is greatly affected by the encapsulation technique. The specifications of the formed capsules, particularly the particle size and shape of capsules created from the same biopolymer, are specified by the encapsulation process. The main criteria for selecting the wall materials in nanoencapsulation of bioactive food ingredients are their safety and that they are of food grade (generally recognized as safe). In addition, the choice of wall materials depends on several factors such as their self-assembling ability, cost of the raw materials, ease of fabrication of delivery system, and regulatory status. Also, it should be considered that the size, morphology, charge, permeability, bioadhesion, and environmental stability of nanocarriers are important. As a result, materials with natural origin are often preferred because they more easily comply with the requisites of biocompatibility, biodegradability, and absence of toxicity. This chapter presents a comprehensive discussion on the application of nanotechnology, particularly nanoencapsulation techniques in safe delivery of bioactive compounds and, importantly, the introduction of the strategies for the selection of materials (i.e., carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids) to reach the optimal conditions for the stability and bioavailability of bioactive compounds.
