Effect of gum acacia on the intestinal bioavailability of n-3 poly unsaturated fatty acids in rats

The emulsification of lipids is a technique being explored because of its interest for improving the bioavailability of lipids of interest, such as omega 3(n-3) long chain (LC) fatty acid (FA).

The choice of emulsifiers is of importance as, depending on their nature, they can impact differently the bioavailability of lipids generally due to a modification of lipolysis levels in the gastro intestinal tract. Among natural emulsifiers, gum Acacia (GA), an indigestible polysaccharide, provides protective encapsulation of n-3. It has the particularity of forming a specifically gangue around the lipid drops which could also impacts lipid digestion. Despite preliminary data supporting its interest on lipolysis the specific impact of GA on lipid bioavailability has never been explored in a complete physiological context.
Thus, we followed in a kinetics study, the n-3 bioavailability in rat lymph, orally submitted to a microalgae oil rich in DHA, formulated GA-based compared to the non–formulated bulk phase form of the same oil. The bioavailability of n-3 was significantly improved in lymph of rat provided with the GA -based emulsion. More precisely, the AUC was improved by +121% for total TG and by 321% for n-3 PUFAs. In this case, this increase follows the improvement of AUC for EPA (+244%) and for DHA (+345%). On the other hand, the benefits attributed to GA have also been related to the Tmax obtained for the transport of FA in lymph, which was 2h earlier (Tmax=4h) compared to the Tmax (6h) obtained with the miroalgae in bulk phase.

All the data showed that GA is one of the most favorable candidates in the choice of natural emulsifiers to improve the lipid bioavailability and their rate of absorption, and more specifically that of n-3, for health targets.