Nano-delivery system for bioactive compounds

Abstract

The scientific community is searching, discovering and inventing things for the welfare of humanity in pursuit of sustainable solutions to respective problems. Among the factors relating to human life, human health is the most concerned issue. Each country is investing a significant amount of money in research and development to improve the human health. Besides having appropriate amount of nutrients, the most important aspect of food is the bioavailability of nutrients. Food item rich in natural antioxidants but not accessible to human body is wasteful. Thus, nanotechnology has shown great potential to improve the efficiency of delivery system of bioactive components to the human body. In this article, an effort has been made to discuss the applications of nanotechnology in the delivery of bioactive compounds to improve the human health. Today, the pharmaceutical companies have started the manufacturing of nutraceuticals to treat the number of anomalies in human body. The nutraceuticals are the food, carrying densely packed bioactive compounds. The bioactive compounds help to fight against number of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis and cardiovascular diseases. The action of bioactive compounds depends upon the extent of bio accessibility or bioavailability to the human body. In this context, nanotechnology play crucial role by manipulating bioactive compounds in the dimensions of 1-100 nm. The typical example of nano-delivery system is the liposomes, lipid vesicles, can incorporate variety of bioactive compounds in their interior. The exceptional capability of nanotechnology is paving a path of new technologies that may affect the human lives by various means. By improving the delivery efficiency of bioactive agents, nanotechnology can be a breakthrough technology in the world of food medicine.