Enhancing Absorption of Dietary Compounds to Promote Health

This innovation is directed to oral co-administration of glucuronidase and polyphenols for reabsorption in the gut. Glucuronidase are enzymes that can be made or derived from any source such as bacteria, recombinant, species agnostic, and others. The inactive glucuronides are cleared from the body by secretion back into the gastrointestinal track where they are not as readily reabsorbed, which the proposed invention will alleviate. This bacteria-derived deconjugating enzyme found in the body can be co-administered with health promoting compounds to enhance the bioavailability of these compounds within the body.

Background: 
Many health-promoting plant-derived compounds that appear in our diets are consumed in the form of dietary supplements are polyphenolic compounds, which are immediately inactivated by the liver upon consumption via glucuronidation, which inactivates the compounds and facilitates their removal from the body via the gut. These polyphenols are amongst the most used dietary supplements in the U.S., so the co-administration of the proposed enzyme with polyphenol-containing dietary supplements would benefit users by facilitating reabsorption from the gut and recirculation of the original compounds by removal of the glucuronide.

Applications: 

• Novel digestive enzyme supplement
• Novel method for digestive enzyme delivery

Advantages: 

• Time-limited formulation 
  • Only temporary high enzyme levels in the gut 
• Enhances bioavailability of compounds
• Can be co-administered with polyphenolic compounds