Nanocomposite of montmorillonite/nettle extract: A potential ingredient for functional foods development

Abstract

The anti-diabetic effect of water extract of Urtica dioica as a green functional food ingredient has been reported to be very low. In this study, we prepared montmorillonite/nettle water extract (Mt/Ex) nanocomposite to enhance its therapeutic effects in vivo. The XRD, FTIR and TGA analyses showed the successful intercalation of phenolics into Mt. The oral delivery of Mt/Ex nanocomposite decreased serum HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin) significantly (p < 0.01) from 10.5% to 6%. In contrast, it did not decrease serum glucose, significantly. It appeared that Mt/Ex contained a small amount of cyclic protein which is the major antidiabetic component of U. dioica but had the high level of polyphenols as antiglycation. No negative effect of Mt on blood alkaline phosphatase status was observed. These results suggest that intercalation of the plant extracts into Mt may be considered as a safe potential technique for developing of potent functional foods-antiglycation, for food and pharmaceutical industry.

Keywords

• Nettle extract
• Encapsulation
• Functional food
• Diabetes
• Montmorillonite
• Antiglycation