A comprehensive review of medium chain monoglycerides on metabolic pathways, nutritional and functional properties, nanotechnology formulations and applications in food system

Abstract

A large and growing body of literature has investigated the broad antibacterial spectrum and strong synergistic antimicrobial activity of medium chain monoglycerides (MCMs) have been widely investigated. Recently, more and more researches have focused on the regulation of MCMs on metabolic health and gut microbiota both in vivo and in vitro. The current review summarizes the digestion, absorption and metabolism of MCMs. Subsequently, it focuses on the functional and nutritional properties of MCMs, including the antibacterial and antiviral characteristics, the modulation of metabolic balance, the regulation of gut microbiota, and the improvement in intestinal health. Additionally, we discuss the most recent developments and application of MCMs using nanotechnologies in food industry, poultry and pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, we analyze recent application examples of MCMs and their nanotechnology formation used in food. The development of nanotechnology platforms facilitating molecular encapsulation and functional presentation contribute to the application of hydrophobic fatty acids and monoglycerides in food preservation and their antibacterial effectiveness. This study emphasizes the metabolic mechanisms and biological activity of MCMs by summarizing the prevailing state of knowledge on this topic, as well as providing insights into prospective techniques for developing the beneficial applications of MCMs to realize the industrialized production.

Keywords:

• Medium chain monoglycerides
• metabolism
• intestinal health
• antimicrobial and antiviral properties
• food nanotechnology and application

Author statement

Mengyu Yang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing. Junhui Zhang and Heng Yan: Review and editing. Ya Pan and Jie Zhou: Preparation of figure, Reviewing, Editing, and Visualization. Hao Zhong and Jin Wang: Preparation of figure, Reviewing, Editing, and Visualization. Haiying Cai, Fengqin Feng and Minjie Zhao: Conceptualization and supervision.

Disclosure statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 32372316, 32172214 and 32001693) and National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFF1104003).