Protein-fatty acid complexes as delivery agent for fat-soluble vitamin: a review

Fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K have an essential role in maintaining health. Deficiencies of vitamins A, D, E, and K are commonly known to cause night blindness, osteomalacia, increased oxidative cell stress, and hemorrhage. Vitamins are chemically reactive compounds that are fragile due to their sensitive and unstable nature. Aside from being prone to degradation due to environmental factors, the vitamins encounter various digestion factors that potentially affect their bioaccessibility and bioavailability when ingested. During digestion, the low pH environment of gastric juice may affect the bioavailability of vitamins. Decreasing vitamin bioavailability may lead to vitamin deficiency. Many methods are used for maintenance and improving vitamin bioavailability in the body. Using an encapsulation system can be helpful because it can maintain the vitamin's properties in the digestion system to optimize their benefits/uses and their bioavailability. The encapsulated substance is referred to as the core material, active agent, internal phase, or payload phase. The substance encapsulates is a coating, membrane, shell, carrier material, wall material, external phase, or matrix. It is important to use the transport medium as food and to create a barrier between the active agent and its environment. Proteins and fats are biomacromolecules that are good candidates for vitamin encapsulation. This article reviewed the protein-fatty acid complex (liprotides) potencies as a protecting and delivery agent for fat-soluble vitamins.