Stability and absorption of anthocyanins from blueberries subjected to a simulated digestion process

Numerous studies have shown that anthocyanins usually have better in vitro bioactivity than in vivo bioactivity. This may be due to physiochemical degradation during gastrointestinal digestion and their poor bioavailability in in vivo studies. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of anthocyanin structure on their stability under simulated gastrointestinal digestion and to assess their absorption in the intestines using Caco-2 human intestinal cell monolayers. The results show that gastric digestion does not significant affect blueberry anthocyanins in terms of composition and antioxidative activity. However, approximately 42% of the total anthocyanin and 29% of the antioxidative activity were lost during intestinal digestion. Structural analysis indicated that fewer free hydroxyl groups and more methoxy groups in the B-ring improve anthocyanin stability. The absorption trials demonstrated that more hydrophobic anthocyanins have better absorption efficiency than more hydrophilic anthocyanins. Furthermore, the glycoside structure also determines the absorption efficiency of anthocyanins.