Food-derived extracellular vesicles in the human gastrointestinal tract: Opportunities for personalised nutrition and targeted therapeutics

Food-derived extracellular vesicles (FDEVs) such as those found in mammalian milk and plants are of great interest for both their health benefits and ability to act as biological nanocarriers. While the extracellular vesicle (EV) field is expanding rapidly to perform characterisation studies on FDEVs from plants, yeasts and bacteria, species-specific differences in EV uptake and function in the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract are poorly understood. Moreover, the effects of food processing on the EV surfaceome and intraluminal content also raises questions surrounding biological viability once consumed. Here, I present a case for increasing community-wide focus on understanding the cellular uptake of FDEVs from different animal, plant, yeast, and bacterial species and how this may impact their function in the human, which will have implications for human health and therapeutic strategies alike.