The nutritional value of food can be improved by the addition of bioactive compounds. However, most of these favorable food additives demonstrate low bioavailability because of their limited stability, solubility, and structural transformations upon digestion and absorption. One strategy to combat these limitations is to integrate bioactives into nanoparticles, although the mostly used artificial materials may result in immune system activation and fast clearing times. Therefore, novel, more biocompatible delivery systems are required. Extracellular vesicles are communication tools designed by evolution to transfer information between cells, organs, and whole organisms. Hence, these vesicles offer enormous potential for targeted bioactive compound delivery.
Keywords: bioactives; drug delivery; extracellular vesicles; food additives.