Enhanced bioavailability and anti‐hyperglycemic activity of young apple polyphenols by complexation with whey protein isolates

This study aims to evaluate the effects of complexation of whey protein isolate (WPI) and young apple polyphenols (YAP) on the bioavailability and anti-hyperglycemic activity of YAP. Two types of WPI-YAP complexes were fabricated by mixing WPI with YAP at 25℃ (WPI-YAP) and 90℃ (WPI-YAP-H), respectively. The intermolecular interactions between WPI and YAP were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism analyses. The in vitro bioaccessibility and bioavailability of YAP were determined using a simulated gastrointestinal digestion and human Caco-2 cells model. It was found that the total polyphenols transport efficiency was improved from 39.8% (YAP) to 48.2% (WPI-YAP) and 56.1% (WPI-YAP-H), indicating that the bioavailability of YAP was improved by complexation with WPI. Besides, after complexation with WPI, YAP displayed an improved in vivo effect on alleviating the increase in postprandial blood glucose level than the pure YAP, with WPI-YAP-H showing a better effect. This finding indicates that co-complexation of YAP with WPI is an effective way to improve the functionality of YAP, and the WPI-YAP complexes are also expected to have potential application in designing YAP-containing functional foods. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The research provided a method to improve the bioavavibility of polyphenols, and the WPI-YAP complex can be developed in designing polyphenols related functional foods.