Abstract: An excipient itself has no bioactivity, but can increase the efficacy of bioactive ingredients in foods when ingested together. An increasing number of bioactive ingredients have recently used in foods, medicines and dietary supplements; however, the development and utilization of bioactive ingredients are limited principally by their low bioavailability. Since the concept of excipient foods was put forward, improving the bioavailability of bioactive food ingredients through excipients has become an increasingly hot research topic. In this paper, we review the recent progress in improving the bioavailability of different bioactive food ingredients by combining with excipients with different structures in order to provide a theoretical basis for the research and development of excipient foods.

Key words: excipient foods, active ingredients, bioavailability, bioaccessibility, absorption