TY - JOUR TI - Improve bioaccessibility of quercetin using pseudo-organogel based nanoemulsions DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3FJ2DVK PY - 2014 AB - Flavonoids which are widely distributed in plants can be categorized as flavonols, flavanols, flavanones, flavones, anthocyanidin and isoflavones. Quercetin (3, 3’, 4’, 5, 7-pentahydroxylflavone) accounts for the largest percentage of flavonol intake in the diet. Like many other flavonoids, quercetin has many health-promotion and disease-prevention benefits. However, its low solubility in water and gastric fluid leads to a low bioavailability in vivo. Lipid-based formulations, such as O/W nanoemulsions and solid lipid nanoparticles have been developed to increase the bioaccessibility of flavonoids. Modern delivery systems such as organogel or pseudo-organogel based emulsions have not yet been studied as quercetin delivery vehicles. In this study, pseudo-organogel and pseudo-organogel based emulsion systems have been developed for oral delivery of quercetin to improve its bioaccessibility. The formation of pseudo-organogel inhibited quercetin crystallization in the oil phase. Using mixture of limonene and medium chain triglyceride (MCT) at the ratio of 2:8 (w/w), solubility of quercetin was increased by 40 times compared to quercetin in MCT at room temperature. Bioaccessibility and the extent of lipolysis were determined for the pseudo-organogel based emulsion system. After the first 30 min of digestion, the extent of lipolysis of the pseudo-organogel based emulsion (71.9 %±1.2 %) was significantly higher (p<0.001) than that of the quercetin loaded oil mixture (same oil mixture as that used to form pseudo-organogel based emulsion) (54.0 %±0.6 %). The percentages of bioaccessibility of quercetin in oil mixture and in pseudo-organogel based emulsion were determined to be (35.6 % ± 0.6 %) and (49.7%±5.3%) respectively, which were significantly higher than that of quercetin in water suspension (less than 3 %). With a higher and stable loading of quercetin, and the improved bioaccessibility, this pseudo-organogel based emulsion system of quercetin may have potential applications in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. KW - Food Science KW - Quercetin KW - Flavonoids LA - eng ER -