Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs): delivery vehicles for food bioactives

Bioactives which are isolated from different sources like plants, animals, etc. are known to be ideal candidates to treat and prevent chronic health problems such as obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, etc. Unfortunately, due to changes in life style and food habits, humans are consuming fewer healthy bioactives than recommended. Hence there is an increasing demand from consumers for food products which are fortified with these bioactives. However, addition of these healthy bioactives to food products for fortification is a challenging job. The main cause is their susceptibility to a complex matrix present in the food product and gastro intestinal tract (GIT) such as pH, temperature, enzymes, etc. Though colossal effort has been made by researchers to successfully translate drug delivery technology for bioactives delivery to protect these susceptible bioactives during production, storage and consumption, success is limited. Due to their near impeccable suitability for the delivery of bioactives in terms of toxicity, scalability, acceptability, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) are drawing attention from food technologists. In this review, effort has been made to present an overview about expectations and suitability of SLNs for delivery of bioactives, selection of the ingredients and their importance in achieving those expectations and an industrially feasible methodology for production of SLNs.