Health benefits, mechanisms of interaction with food components, and delivery of tea polyphenols: a review

Abstract

Tea polyphenols (TPs) are the most important active component of tea and have become a research focus among natural products, thanks to their antioxidant, lipid-lowering, liver-protecting, anti-tumor, and other biological activities. Polyphenols can interact with other food components, such as protein, polysaccharides, lipids, and metal ions to further improve the texture, flavor, and sensory quality of food, and are widely used in food fields, such as food preservatives, antibacterial agents and food packaging. However, the instability of TPs under conditions such as light or heat and their low bioavailability in the gastrointestinal environment also hinder their application in food. In this review, we summarized the health benefits of TPs. In order to better use TPs in food, we analyzed the form and mechanism of interaction between TPs and main food components, such as polysaccharides and proteins. Moreover, we reviewed research into optimizing the applications of TPs in food by bio-based delivery systems, such as liposomes, nanoemulsions, and nanoparticles, so as to improve the stability and bioactivity of TPs in food application. As an effective active ingredient, TPs have great potential to be applied in functional food to produce benefits for human health.

Keywords:

• Tea polyphenols
• health benefits
• application
• bioavailability
• delivery

Disclosure statement

No conflicts of interest are declared for any of the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFD2101105). Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20210458). Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2021QNRC001).