Polysaccharide Structures and Their Hypocholesterolemic Potential

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Inês M. V.
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Machado, Fernanda, Moreno, Maria João, Nunes, Cláudia, Coimbra, Manuel A., Coreta-Gomes, Filipe
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules26154559
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10316/105259; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26154559
• topic: polysaccharides; chitosan; β-glucans; cholesterol homeostasis; viscosity; bile salt sequestration; microbiota; hypocholesterolemic ingredients;; fiber; Anticholesteremic Agents; Bile Acids and Salts; Biological Availability; Biotransformation; Cholesterol; Functional Food; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Homeostasis; Humans; Intestinal Mucosa; Liver; Molecular Structure; Molecular Weight; Polysaccharides; Static Electricity

Several classes of polysaccharides have been described to have hypocholesterolemic potential, namely cholesterol bioaccessibility and bioavailability. This review will highlight the main mechanisms by which polysaccharides are known to affect cholesterol homeostasis at the intestine, namely the effect (i) of polysaccharide viscosity and its influence on cholesterol bioaccessibility; (ii) on bile salt sequestration and its dependence on the structural diversity of polysaccharides; (iii) of bio-transformations of polysaccharides and bile salts by the gut microbiota. Different quantitative structure-hypocholesterolemic activity relationships have been explored depending on the mechanism involved, and these were based on polysaccharide physicochemical properties, such as sugar composition and ramification degree, linkage type, size/molecular weight, and charge. The information gathered will support the rationalization of polysaccharides' effect on cholesterol homeostasis and highlight predictive rules towards the development of customized hypocholesterolemic functional food.