Formation and gastrointestinal digestion of β‐carotene emulsion stabilized by milk fat globule membrane

Astaxanthin nanoparticles ameliorate dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis by alleviating oxidative stress, regulating intestinal flora, and protecting the intestinal barrier

This study aimed to develop a novel astaxanthin nanoparticle using gum arabic (GA) and whey protein powder enriched with milk fat globule membranes (MFGM-WPI) as carriers and to investigate its effect and alleviation mechanism on colitis in mice. We demonstrated that MFGM-GA-astaxanthin could improve the bioaccessibility of astaxanthin and cope with oxidative stress more effectively in a Caco-2 cell model. In vivo studies demonstrated that MFGM-GA-astaxanthin alleviated colitis symptoms and repaired intestinal barrier function by increasing the expression of mucin 2, occludin, and zonula occludens-1. This was attributed to the alleviating effect of MFGM-GA-astaxanthin on oxidative stress. Moreover, MFGM-GA-astaxanthin restored the abnormalities of flora caused by dextran sulfate sodium, including Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, Ruminococcus, and Shigella. This study provides a basis for the therapeutic effect of astaxanthin nanoparticles on colon diseases.

Cholesterol stabilization of phospholipid vesicles against bile-induced solubilization

Sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol complex to form functional liquid-ordered (L_o) domains. It has been suggested that the detergent resistance of these domains plays a key role during gastrointestinal digestion of the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM), which is rich in both SM and cholesterol. Small-angle X-ray scattering was employed to determine the structural alterations that occur when milk sphingomyelin (MSM)/cholesterol, egg sphingomyelin (ESM)/cholesterol, soy phosphatidylcholine (SPC)/cholesterol, and milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) phospholipid/cholesterol model bilayer systems were incubated with bovine bile under physiological conditions. The persistence of diffraction peaks was indicative of multilamellar vesicles of MSM with cholesterol concentrations > 20 % mol, and also for ESM with or without cholesterol. The complexation of ESM with cholesterol is therefore capable of inhibiting the resulting vesicles from disruption by bile at lower cholesterol concentrations than MSM/cholesterol. After subtraction of background scattering by large aggregates in the bile, a Guinier fitting was used to determine changes in the radii of gyration (R_gs) over time for the biliary mixed micelles after mixing the vesicle dispersions with bile. Swelling of the micelles by phospholipid solubilization from vesicles was a function of cholesterol concentration, with less swelling of the micelles occurring as the cholesterol concentration was increased. With 40% mol cholesterol, the R_gs of the bile micelles mixed with MSM/cholesterol, ESM/cholesterol, and MFGM phospholipid/cholesterol were equal to the control (PIPES buffer + bovine bile), indicating negligible swelling of the biliary mixed micelles.

Advancement on Milk Fat Globule Membrane: Separation, Identification, and Functional Properties

Dairy products have become more common in people's daily diets in recent years, and numerous useful components derived from milk are widely employed in the food industry. Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) is a kind of film that encases milk fat globules, and has been shown to have a high nutritional value. In this work, the protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and other components of MFGM are discussed, and also common separation, preparation, and analysis technologies, physicochemical properties, and functional features of MFGM are reviewed, to provide some guidance for the development and utilization of MFGM.

Nature-Assembled Structures for Delivery of Bioactive Compounds and Their Potential in Functional Foods

Consumers are demanding more natural, healthy, and high-quality products. The addition of health-promoting substances, such as bioactive compounds, to foods can boost their therapeutic effect. However, the incorporation of bioactive substances into food products involves several technological challenges. They may have low solubility in water or poor stability in the food environment and/or during digestion, resulting in a loss of their therapeutic properties. Over recent years, the encapsulation of bioactive compounds into laboratory-engineered colloidal structures has been successful in overcoming some of these hurdles. However, several nature-assembled colloidal structures could be employed for this purpose and may offer many advantages over laboratory-engineered colloidal structures. For example, the casein micelles and milk fat globules from milk and the oil bodies from seeds were designed by nature to deliver biological material or for storage purposes. These biological functional properties make them good candidates for the encapsulation of bioactive compounds to aid in their addition into foods. This review discusses the structure and biological function of different nature-assembled carriers, preparation/isolation methods, some of the advantages and challenges in their use as bioactive compound delivery systems, and their behavior during digestion.