A2 Refereed review article in a scientific journal
Fucoxanthin: A Comprehensive Review on Digestion, Biotransformation, Microbiome Interaction, and Targeted Delivery
Authors: Sun, Bingbing; Zhao, Chunjie; Chen, Xiao; Yang, Baoru; Cui, Wei; Zhang, Jinrong; Hou, Xin; Yan, Xiaojun; Ni, Qinxue; Cheng, Pengfei; Chen, Kang
Publication year: 2026
Journal: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Volume: 74
Issue: 13
First page : 10605
Last page: 10623
ISSN: 0021-8561
eISSN: 1520-5118
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c12697
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.5c12697
Fucoxanthin, a marine carotenoid with diverse bioactivities, has attracted increasing attention for its health-promoting potential. However, its gastrointestinal fate and targeted delivery remain insufficiently understood, limiting its translation into effective applications. This review summarizes current knowledge on fucoxanthin's digestion, biotransformation, tissue distribution, interactions with the gut microbiota, and different delivery systems. In vivo, fucoxanthin is hydrolyzed to fucoxanthinol in the intestine and further converted to amarouciaxanthin A in the liver, undergoing subsequent dehydrogenation, isomerization, and esterification before distribution into plasma, liver, adipose tissue, and heart. Additionally, fucoxanthin modulates gut microbial composition through a duplibiotic effect, linking its metabolism to host-microbiota interactions. Lipid-, polysaccharide-, and protein-based delivery systems have been developed due to low oral bioavailability; these are also compared and summarized. Together, this review provides a theoretical framework for the rational design of functional foods and therapeutic applications of fucoxanthin.
Keywords: bioavailability; delivery system; fucoxanthin; gut microbiota; metabolism.
Funding information in the publication:
This work was supported by the General Scientific Research Project of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. Y202456700); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32502213); Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. ZCLQN26C2001); Ningbo University (Grant No.
422303463); Finland-China Food and Health Network global pilot funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture,
Finland; One Health Interdisciplinary Research Project, Intisitute of One Health Science, Ningbo University; Natural
Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No.BK20241571); and Innovational Fund for Scientific and
Technological Personnel of Hainan Province (Grant No. KJRC2023L08)
