Hyaluronic acid-based nanodelivery systems for food bioactive compounds

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a natural polysaccharide that is available as a food additive and dietary supplement. As HA can specifically bind multiple receptors (e.g., cluster of differentiation-44) on cell surface, it acts as an attractive encapsulating agent to design nanocarriers for targeted delivery of food bioactive compounds. The unique beneficial effect and physicochemical property of HA have led to a wide range of medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food applications of HA-based nanocarriers. This review gives an overview on the recent developments of nanocarriers based on HA and its derivates. Various types of nanocarriers are presented. The formation mechanisms, advantages, and challenges of each of the systems are discussed in detail. Of specific interest is the use of these nanocarriers for protection and controlled release of food-related bioactives. The HA-based nanocarriers have been developed to improve the solubility, stability, and bioavailability of food bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, vitamins, and functional lipids. These nanocarriers can be developed in the form of polyelectrolyte nanocomplexes, core-shell nanoparticles, nanomicelles, nanogels, and nanoemulsions. Although there are promising results with the high delivery performance of HA-based nanocarriers, their commercial utilization in the food industry remains very limited due to the lack of clinical evidence on the potential nanotoxicity. Another challenge is the few information on the digestive behavior of nanocarriers and the bioactivity of bioactives.