Safety evaluation on defatted soybean particles after nanofabrication

Many nanoparticles are used in food for increasing the bioavailability of nutrients. Nano defatted soybean particles (nDSPs) were promising as nanoparticles of a traditional food, but its safety remains pending. In this work, the possible toxicity of nDSP was tested on cell and mouse models. Cell proliferation and the viability of defatted soybean particles (DSPs), DSP tracking in gastrointestinal, and tissue histopathological examination were performed. The Zeta potential of nDSP was as low as −16 ± 3 mV and had no cytotoxicity on Caco-2 cells or animal models. In the gastrointestinal tract, the nDSP showed similar absorption patterns with DSP of 500 nm or 1 μm. In acute toxicity assessment, no abnormal behavior was observed in mice after DSP administration, and no noticeable tissue damage and inflammatory lesion were found either. Here, we show that DSPs, including nDSP, are safe at a single dose of 10 g/kg body weight, regardless of the particle size. The food property and aggregation behavior both help to make the nanoparticle safe.