Applications of Nanotechnology-Based Approaches for Targeted Delivery of Nutraceuticals

Nutraceuticals are products that have medicinal value in addition to nutritional value. These products exert physiological benefits to protect against chronic and acute diseases and have powers to reduce the aging process. Nowadays, people’s interest has moved from allopathic to Ayurveda to nutraceuticals. These are usually regular dietary supplements and have attracted consumers around the globe due to their nutritional safety and lower side-effects on prolonged administration. Though traditional dosage forms are available as pills, tablets, and semi-solid forms, they still lack efficacy in targeted delivery of bioactives. Then comes the role of nanotechnology as a carrier for the targeted delivery of nutraceuticals. Dosage forms such as liposomes, nanoparticles, and nanocrystals are some of the approaches utilized in the past to deliver nutraceuticals. Though they are adequate, scaling up these techniques to a large scale is troublesome. This chapter overviews applications of such techniques and their future concerns.