Enhancement of Hesperidin Stability and Bioavailability Using Plant Proteins Based on pH-Driven Approach

Complexes of hesperidin with different plant proteins (rice protein, pea protein, pea/rice complex protein) were prepared by pH-driven method to improve the water solubility, environmental stability, and bioavailability of hesperidin. The complexes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, dynamically scattered light, and X-ray diffraction. Meanwhile, the high performance liquid chromatography was used to determine the hesperidin content to analyze the environmental stability of complexes and bioavailability of hesperidin. The results showed that three plant proteins were able to improve the water solubility of hesperidin, among which the pea/rice complex protein improved 19.6-fold, and the solubility of hesperidin in water reached 340.78 μg/mL. The environmental stability of hesperidin-pea/rice complex protein complex was basically better than that of single plant protein, in which the heat stabilization was the most effective, and the retention of hesperidin was at 65.09% after heating at 80 ℃ for 2 h. The in vitro digestion results showed that the bioavailability of hesperidin in hesperidin-pea/rice complex protein complex was the highest, which was about 5.22-fold of free hesperidin. This study provided a new idea to enhance the stability and bioavailability of hesperidin and helped to expand the application of hesperidin.