Colon-Specific Delivery of Nutraceuticals

Abstract

Aiming at the targeted delivery of nutrients to the intestinal region, designing and developing novel colon-specific delivery systems has attracted increasing interest in the recent past. Nevertheless, there are many challenges in delivering nutrients to the distant organ, which requires advanced strategies. Although traditional designing methods such as pellets and granules remain viable approaches with limitations, nanoscience offers superior advantages in stabilizing the growing nutraceutical formulations and enhancing its nutrient absorption and bioavailability. This chapter also discusses the challenges in targeted colon delivery through gastrointestinal tissues such as pH, colonic microflora, enzymes, and other epithelial barriers. Further, the recent advances in vitro gastric models for testing the rising formulation candidates specific to nutraceuticals and probiotic supplements with colon-specific health claims are highlighted. Lastly, we provide the pertinent issues that hinder the effective preservation and maximization of the nutrient’s bioactivity and safety of these new nutraceutical carrier systems inside the human body. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.