review · Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition
Curcumin is a natural compound extracted from turmeric rhizomes with broad biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-diabetic, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer properties. However, its practical therapeutic use is restricted by its hydrophobicity and sensitivity, which lower its bioavailability and physiological efficacy. Encapsulating curcumin within micro- and nano-delivery carriers significantly improves its stability and absorption. Formulations such as nanoemulsions, liposomes, niosomes, nano-hydrogels, and biopolymer-based nanoparticles have been evaluated. Among these, nano-gels and biopolymer-based nanoparticles, particularly those made from poly lactic-co-glycolic acid, zein, and chitosan, represent the most effective systems due to their high encapsulation efficiency and robustness under unfavourable conditions. Evidence demonstrates that encapsulated curcumin enhances health-promoting properties, exhibiting heightened performance in antidiabetic, antioxidant, neuroprotective, and anticancer activities, including actions against breast cancer.
Curcumin holds substantial promise for health management, yet poor absorption limits its medical and nutritional utility. Identifying effective delivery vehicles resolves these solubility and stability challenges. Understanding which nanocarriers work best enables more dependable therapeutic outcomes across diverse conditions, including diabetes, neurological disorders, and breast cancer.
This work highlights delivery platforms that pharmaceutical and nutraceutical developers can use to formulate curcumin-based products with higher stability and bioavailability. Applications focus on therapeutic areas such as breast cancer treatment, diabetes management, and neuroprotection. As a review of encapsulation techniques and biological responses, the evidence reflects early-stage formulation research, identifying biopolymer nanoparticles and nano-gels as candidates for further translational development.
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Curcumin (CUR) is a natural hydrophobic compound, which is available in turmeric rhizome. It has several bioactivities including antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, and other activities. Despite its medical and biological benefits, it is using in limitations because of its hydrophobicity and sensitivity. These unfavorable conditions further reduced the bioavailability (BA) and biological efficacy of CUR. This review summarizes the stability and BA of free- and encapsulated-CUR, as well as comprehensively discusses the potential biological activity of CUR-loaded various micro-/nano-encapsulation systems. The stability and BA of CUR can be improved via loading in different encapsulation systems, including nanoemulsions, liposomes, niosomes, biopolymer-based nanoparticles, nano-hydrogel, and others. Biopolymer-based nanoparticles (especially poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), zein, and chitosan) and nano-gels are the best carriers for encapsulating and delivering CUR. Both delivery systems are suitable because of their excellent functional properties such as high encapsulation efficiency, well-stability against unfavorable conditions, and can be coated using other encapsulation systems. Based on available evidences, encapsulated-CUR exerted greater biological activities especially anticancer (breast cancer), antioxidant, antidiabetic, and neuroprotective effects.
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DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2070906
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