Gum arabic-coated nano-nutriosome for gastrointestinal delivery of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and application in yogurt as a real food system

Abstract

Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G), a promising flavonoid with diverse biological properties, faces challenges in functional food application due to instability under various conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a novel gum Arabic-coated nano-nutriosome (GA-C3G-NU) for promoting gastro-intestinal (GI) delivery of C3G and fortification of set-type yogurt. The GI digestion study revealed that GA improved the stability of C3G-NU. After freeze-drying, FZD GA-C3G-NU maintained their nanosized, exhibited high encapsulation efficiency ≥90%, and an acceptable PDI ≤0.30. SEM analysis revealed crystal-like structure in GA-C3G-NU, while the XRD study confirmed their decreased crystallinity. Furthermore, the FZD GA-C3G-NU showed significantly controlled release profile (p < 0.05) of C3G. The GA-C3G-NU didn’t negatively affect the yogurt’s properties. It maintained the desirable acidity while enhancing water holding capacity, color, texture, microstructure, and compatibility with lactic acid bacteria. Overall, GA-C3G-NU could be a promising carrier for enhancing C3G’s gastrointestinal delivery, with potential use in dairy products.

Highlights

Introduction

Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G), a common type of anthocyanin, offers several health properties. However, it is highly sensitive to harsh environmental factors like pH, heat, light, oxygen, and salt levels, and gastrointestinal enzymes, thus highly susceptible to degradation (Xie et al., 2024). C3G’s poor stability in the harsh conditions of the digestive system makes it difficult to reach the intestine. This instability limits its potential use in functional foods (Paul et al., 2024). To address these limitations and enable incorporation into food products, the compound can be encapsulated in nano-carriers designed for oral delivery. Modern food production increasingly involves incorporating functional ingredients to enhance their quality properties like the flavor, color and texture as well as their health benefits (Chen, Xu, Zhang, Su, & Zheng, 2016; Gowd, Bao, & Chen, 2019; Rashwan, Osman, Abdelshafy, Mo, & Chen, 2025). Accordingly, recent trends focus on incorporating bioactive molecules into nano-carriers. Among the appropriate nano-carrier systems for food fortification, phospholipid vesicles are of special interest because of their composition of phospholipids, that are naturally present in the human body as the major component of cell membranes (Castangia et al., 2023). Among these systems, nano-nutriosomes (NU) have recently proved their efficiency for the encapsulation of C3G (Liu, Karim, Rashwan, Xie, & Chen, 2024; Paul et al., 2024).

They are a new type of phospholipid nano-carriers made from dextrinized corn starch or water-soluble wheat fiber and phospholipid. Primarily produced as unilamellar nanovesicles through a green self-assembly process. Owing to their water solubility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, and biocompatibility, they serve as green and cost-effective nano-carriers (Paul et al., 2025). However, these carriers face challenges due to their instability under harsh physicochemical conditions. Thus, surface modification with natural polymers such as gums has been reported to be effective for the development of biopolymer-coated nano-nutriosome with enhanced stability (Karim, Shishir, & Chen, 2020; Paul et al., 2025). Among them, gum Arabic (GA), a natural polymer, has been extensively explored in food nanotechnology to improve bioactive compounds delivery and nanoparticles stabilization, widely used as a coating, stabilizer, and emulsifier in food and pharmaceutical applications (Xie et al., 2024).

Despite their potential, nano-nutriosomes have not been widely used as a novel delivery system in food products. Recently, it has been reported that C3G must be nanoencapsulated before being integrated into a food system such as dairy products (Paul et al., 2025). One of the major fermented dairy products, yogurt, is a rich source of lactic acid bacteria, probiotics, proteins and calcium, however, plain yogurt lacks beneficial nutrients such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and phenolics (Rashwan, Osman, & Chen, 2023). Therefore, enriching yogurt with natural sources to improve the product’s quality properties and shelf life offers an effective approach for functional yogurt development. Interestingly, the use of gum arabic coated nano-nutriosome in food products remains largely unexplored. In our previous work, we optimized the preparation of gum Arabic coated C3G nano-nutriosome and established stable nanoparticles. It was found that the nanoparticles were stabilized under different conditions like pH, salt, temperature and different food simulants, as well as their biocompatibility and safety. Therefore, it was considered as suitable for application in food formulations (Xie et al., 2024). This study aimed to investigate the in vitro gastro-intestinal stability of gum Arabic coated C3G nano-nutriosome, characterize the freeze-dried FZD GA-C3G-NU powder stability and evaluate the physicochemical, microstructural as well as microbial properties of yogurt supplemented with FZD GA-C3G-NU.

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Materials and reagents

Zineb Ould Yahia, Lianghua Xie, Ahmed K. Rashwan, Bolai Paul, Wei Chen, Gum arabic-coated nano-nutriosome for gastrointestinal delivery of cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and application in yogurt as a real food system, Food Chemistry 514 (2026) 149158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2026.149158