Many nutraceuticals are extracted and purified from plants and animals. Obvious expansion of this market requires innovation for new products, and the use of bioprocessing techniques commonly applied to the food and pharmaceutical industry may provide means to enhance products as well as new fractionation and bioseparation techniques. There are vast sources of enzymes and microorganisms capable of production of nutraceutical components and the database is rapidly increasing in recent years.
One of the greatest challenges of food research is delivering high quality food products and nutraceuticals with an added functionality to prevent life-style related diseases such as, cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. In order to obtain successful results, relationship between ingredient structure, functionality, and bioavailability are key factors. In addition, the breakdown of food structures in the gastrointestinal tract and its impact on the bioavailability of bioactive ingredients must be also carefully considered. Development and optimization of formulations is becoming an integral part of manufacturing and marketing of any bioactive ingredient. Optimization of this process may require alteration in formulation composition, manufacturing process, equipment and batch sizes. It would be, desirable, therefore, to develop in vitro tests that reflect bioavailability data and application of the in vitro-in vivo correlation to reduce the number of human studies during the formulation development.
Therefore, the aim of this research topic is finding new bioprocesses and purification techniques which are readily scalable, for the production of bioactive ingredients. Formulation of these new ingredients to deliver, protect, and improve bioactivity is another important objective in this research topic. Finally, studies of bio-accessibility, in vitro-in vivo correlations and bioavailability are also interesting topics in this area.
Many nutraceuticals are extracted and purified from plants and animals. Obvious expansion of this market requires innovation for new products, and the use of bioprocessing techniques commonly applied to the food and pharmaceutical industry may provide means to enhance products as well as new fractionation and bioseparation techniques. There are vast sources of enzymes and microorganisms capable of production of nutraceutical components and the database is rapidly increasing in recent years.
One of the greatest challenges of food research is delivering high quality food products and nutraceuticals with an added functionality to prevent life-style related diseases such as, cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. In order to obtain successful results, relationship between ingredient structure, functionality, and bioavailability are key factors. In addition, the breakdown of food structures in the gastrointestinal tract and its impact on the bioavailability of bioactive ingredients must be also carefully considered. Development and optimization of formulations is becoming an integral part of manufacturing and marketing of any bioactive ingredient. Optimization of this process may require alteration in formulation composition, manufacturing process, equipment and batch sizes. It would be, desirable, therefore, to develop in vitro tests that reflect bioavailability data and application of the in vitro-in vivo correlation to reduce the number of human studies during the formulation development.
Therefore, the aim of this research topic is finding new bioprocesses and purification techniques which are readily scalable, for the production of bioactive ingredients. Formulation of these new ingredients to deliver, protect, and improve bioactivity is another important objective in this research topic. Finally, studies of bio-accessibility, in vitro-in vivo correlations and bioavailability are also interesting topics in this area.