The bioaccessibility of water-soluble vitamins: A review

Abstract

Background: Water-soluble vitamins are indispensable organic molecules for growth, development, and body function. Epidemiological evidence often supports the link between sufficient dietary intake of water-soluble vitamins and maintaining overall health. Knowing the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of water-soluble vitamins are important in terms of their usability in metabolism. There are many studies about the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of food components, but studies about vitamins are limited. Scope and approach: The purpose of this review was to evaluate the bioaccessibility of water-soluble vitamins and identify the factors that may negatively affect the bioaccessibility. In this review, we focused on summarizing the bioaccessibility of water-soluble vitamins. The influence of dietary fiber and its properties, temperature, pH, grinding, inhibitors, antioxidants, polypeptides, polysaccharides, and vitamin-binding proteins on the bioaccessibility of vitamins was evaluated. However, the bioavailability values for some water-soluble vitamins were also presented, but there is a limited study about the bioavailability of water-soluble vitamins. Key findings and conclusions: Bioaccessibility may decrease significantly in vitamin C, folate, vitamin B-1, and the PL and PM forms of vitamin B-6, which are more sensitive to temperature and acidity. Generally, decreases in pH-sensitive vitamins may occur in the small intestine, where pH value is higher than the gastric phase. Also, the presence of some metal ions, bonding with polypeptides and polysaccharides, digestive enzyme inhibitors, dietary fiber, and binding proteins may negatively affect bioaccessibility. The numbers of studies conducted in this field are limited. In conclusion, more studies are suggested to obtain more accurate information about the current dietary nutrient intake.