Introduction to bioactive compounds: Definition, advantages, and limitations

Bioactive substances encompass both essential and nonessential elements, such as carotenoids, bioactive proteins, essential oils, vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and polyphenols, which are naturally present in nature and integrated into the human dietary system. These compounds have been demonstrated to exert significant effects on human health. However, they are susceptible to light, oxygen, food processing conditions (e.g., elevated temperatures and pressure), and the specific environment of the human gastrointestinal tract (i.e., presence of enzymes, pH variations, etc.). These threatening conditions drastically reduce the accessibility and bioavailability of bioactive compounds in humans. In recent years, technological progress in the food and pharmaceutical fields has enabled researchers to develop bioactive delivery vehicles capable of protecting bioactive payloads from destructive conditions. In this scenario, electrohydrodynamic atomization techniques are potent nonthermal tools for engineering bioactive-loaded delivery systems with great bioavailability/bioaccessibility and no off-target toxicity.