ABSTRACT
Nanocarriers-based therapeutics are gaining greater attention and research trends in the biomedical field because they have excellent commercialization potential. In this context, an upsurge in nanocarriers based on commercially available products has been observed. Nanotechnology basically deals with the engineering of particles at molecular levels, and this term was originally the subject of building nanoscale devices and machines. In recent years, 30nanotechnology has broached in various unfamiliar fields of Pharmaceuticals and nutrition. Nutraceuticals have immense importance among both consumers and researchers because of the growing interest in alternative medicinal sources. Nutraceuticals are foods, or foods’ parts, that provide health or medical benefits, including the treatment and prevention of diseases. Nutraceuticals is a broad term where foods, i.e., dietary supplements, antioxidants, dairy products (fortified), and minerals, vitamins, herbals, citrus fruits, cereals, and milk comes under this umbrella. Due to the proven healthcare and fitness benefits of nutraceuticals, researchers as well as ordinary people are engrossed towards these natural dietary agents. The increasing interest in such products is also due to the innate biological activities (i.e., antioxidant activities), biocompatibility, and non-toxic nature of these phytochemicals. The World Health Organization (WHO) has started a worldwide strategy to cope with traditional medicines-related issues due to this growing public interest in nutraceuticals. Nutraceuticals from various sources have shown to suppress pro-inflammatory pathways for treating cancer and similarly in other ailments; however, their low in vivo bioavailability limits their use. Research on nano-encapsulation of nutraceuticals has been the recent trend to resolve the limitations associated with them and improve their health benefits. This chapter gives an overview of nutraceuticals, different types of nanocarriers, recent developments in the field of nanocarriers based nutraceuticals delivery, their absorption mechanisms, and major challenges in the way of commercialization of nanocarriers based nutraceuticals.
