Dr. Rychlicka: – I'm looking for a way to make supplements more effective

Ferulic acid has antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, but also neuro-, hepato- and cardioprotective effects. It can therefore play an important role in the prevention of diseases of civilisation.

– There is only one issue – like many other phytochemicals, its practical use is limited due to its generally poor bioavailability, and therefore low bioavailability in the human body, which means that we simply cannot take advantage of its beneficial properties – says Dr. Magdalena Rychlicka from the Department of Food Chemistry and Biocatalysis, who, thanks to the grant she received for her project, intends to obtain a preparation of ferulic acid in the form of a nanoemulsion to be used as a supplement in the prevention of civilisation diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Through her previous work on natural aromatic acids and phospholipids, Dr. Rychlicka has created a library of new compounds with enhanced biological potential and improved physicochemical properties not previously described in literature. The possibility of obtaining them through biotechnological transformations also makes these compounds suitable for practical use as dietary supplements and food additives.

– As a next step, I would like to focus on searching for methods to deliver these compounds to the target tissues of the body to a degree that we can consider therapeutical or health-promoting. Most supplements have a low level of bioavailability and, figuratively speaking, simply 'pass through' our bodies, whereas the idea is for them to stay in our bodies and finish what they are supposed to – says the scientist from the Department of Food Chemistry and Biocatalysis, adding that lipid nanoparticles, which increase the bioavailability of, for example, ferulic acid, are important in this change, as confirmed during a preliminary study carried out during her stay at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal, in the team of Prof. Souto.

Dr. Rychlicka is therefore planning another project, following the completion of Miniatura 6, with the aim of developing W/O/W nanoemulsions containing active lysophenophospholipids as effective means of preventing lifestyle diseases. The abbreviation W/O/W stands for water-in-oil-in-water. The main aim of this project is to obtain and evaluate the therapeutic potential and physicochemical parameters in vitro and in vivo of nanoemulsions containing biologically active lysophenophospholipids.

– In vitro tests will be carried out in cooperation with the team of Prof. Joanna Wietrzyk from the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław, and the team of Prof. Edyta Gendaszewska-Darmach from the Institute of Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology of the Łódź University of Technology – says Dr. Magdalena Rychlicka.