Functional foods lipids: unraveling their role in the immune response in obesity

Abstract

Functional lipids are lipids that are found in food matrices and play an important role in influencing human health as their role goes beyond energy storage and structural components. Ongoing research into functional lipids has highlighted their potential to modulate immune responses and other mechanisms associated with obesity, along with its comorbidities. These lipids represent a new field that may offer new therapeutic and preventive strategies for these diseases by understanding their contribution to health. In this review, we discussed in-depth the potential food sources of functional lipids and their reported potential benefit of the major lipid classification: based on their composition such as simple, compound, and derived lipids, and based on their function such as storage and structural, by investigating the intricate mechanisms through which these lipids interact in the human body. We summarize the key insights into the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of the most studied functional lipids. Furthermore, we review the main immunomodulatory mechanisms reported in the literature in the past years. Finally, we discuss the perspectives and challenges faced in the food industry related to functional lipids.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Functional lipids are immunomodulatory agents in chronic non-communicable diseases.

• Bioaccessibility and bioavailability depend mainly on the lipid profile and the matrix food.

• Incorporation of polyunsaturated fat in foods is a current technological challenge.

• Emerging technologies are good options for extracting functional lipids efficiently.

• Nanotechnology plays an important role in developing food delivery systems.

• Food delivery systems improve the bioavailability of functional lipids.

Keywords:

• Obesity
• functional lipids
• functional foods
• immune system
• bioaccessibility
• bioavailability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías [Gloria Itzel Peña Vázquez scholarship CVU 860261].