Phospholipids: Versatile Nutraceuticals for Functional Foods

For more, in-depth information on phospholipids, go to www.phospholipidsonline.com The phospholipids (pronounced fos-fo-lipi-ids) are prime building blocks of life.1 They are found in humans, all animals, plants, and the simplest life forms. Some phospholipids are most likely conditionally essential nutrients: for their in vivo synthesis multiple enzymes and cofactors are required. Dietary phospholipid intake has declined, mainly due to increased food refining and processing. Phospholipid mixtures (“lecithin”) were among the first health foods, and more sophisticated preparations have emerged as versatile nutraceuticals and functional food constituents. Phospholipids are orthomolecules—“molecules orthodox to the body”, as defined by the late Nobel biochemist Linus Pauling.2 Phospholipids have a unique molecular organization that probably rendered them integral to life since its very beginning. The phospholipid molecule is charged at one end and uncharged at the other (amphipathic). This endows phospholipids with emulsifying, wetting, and self-assembly properties, all of which are successfully employed in the human body design. Self-assembly generates the membranes which all cells require for their essential functions. These three-dimensional, sheet-like molecular assemblies consist mostly of catalytic proteins built into a continuous matrix assembled from phospholipids (Fig. 1).