Evaluation of Olive Leaf Phenolic Compounds’ Gastrointestinal Stability Based on Co-Administration and Microencapsulation with Non-Digestible Carbohydrates Duque Soto, Carmen Leyva Jiménez, Francisco Javier Quirantes Piné, Rosa López Bascón, María Asunción Lozano Sánchez, Jesús Borras Linares, María Isabel Olive leaf extract Phenolic compounds Microencapsulation The large generation of olive by-products has motivated their revalorization into highadded- value products. In this regard, olive leaves pose as an interesting source of bioactive compounds, due to their phenolic content with commonly known antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory properties, with potential application in non-communicable diseases. However, their effectiveness and applicability into functional foods is limited by their instability under gastrointestinal conditions. Thus, the development of protective formulations is essential. In this study, the spray-drying encapsulation of a phenolic-rich olive leaf extract with inulin as the encapsulating agent was optimized. Then, the behavior of the free extract under gastrointestinal conditions, its co-administration with the encapsulating agent, and the optimized microencapsulated formulation were studied through an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion process following the INFOGEST protocol. Digestion of the free extract resulted in the degradation of most compounds, whereas this was minimized in the co-administration of the non-encapsulated extract with the encapsulating agent. This protective effect, related to its interaction with inulin, was similar to the microencapsulated formulation. Thus, both approaches, co-administration and microencapsulation with inulin, could be promising strategies for the improvement of the stability of these anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory compounds under gastrointestinal conditions, enhancing their beneficial effect. 2024-04-29T06:46:26Z 2024-04-29T06:46:26Z 2023-12-27 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Duque-Soto, C.; Leyva- Jiménez, F.J.; Quirantes-Piné, R.; López-Bascón, M.A.; Lozano- Sánchez, J.; Borrás-Linares, I. Evaluation of Olive Leaf Phenolic Compounds’ Gastrointestinal Stability Based on Co-Administration and Microencapsulation with Non-Digestible Carbohydrates. Nutrients 2024, 16, 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16010093 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/91210 10.3390/nu16010093 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI