Nutraceutical Excipients: Understanding the Importance of Excipients in Nutraceutical Products

Role of Excipients in Nutraceutical Formulations

Excipients play a vital role in developing an effective nutraceutical product by influencing important quality attributes like stability, solubility, bioavailability and palatability. Their main functions can be summarized as follows:

Fillers and Diluents: Excipients like microcrystalline cellulose, calcium phosphate, starch are used as fillers to give bulk to tablets and aid manufacturing. They also act as diluents by increasing the bulk of formulation without affecting potency.

Binders and Adhesives: Substances like pregelatinized starch, polyvinylpyrrolidone are employed as binders to give coherence to powder blend and integrity to compacted or agglomerated formulations.

Disintegrants: Croscarmellose sodium, sodium starch glycolate are added as superdisintegrants to ensure speedy breakdown of tablets/capsules within the digestive tract.

Lubricants: Lubricants like magnesium stearate, stearic acid are used in tablet manufacturing to reduce friction between the machinery and powder blend, preventing powder from adhering to the surfaces.

Flavors and Sweeteners: Excipients are used to improve taste acceptability of nutraceuticals. Flavors like peppermint, sweeteners like sucralose impart palatability.

Preservatives: Preservatives such as methyl paraben, propyl paraben are added to extend shelf-life by preventing microbial growth.

Solubilizers/Surfactants: Excipients like Tween 80, Cremophor EL are employed to increase aqueous solubility and dissolution properties of compounds.

Nutraceutical refer to the inert substances that are added to nutraceutical formulations in order to provide ease of manufacturing and stability during shelf life. These excipients aid in the manufacturing process and help deliver the active ingredients of a nutraceutical product to the target site in the human body. Some common nutraceutical excipients include fillers, binders, lubricants, diluents, flavoring agents, and disintegrants.