**4. Conclusions**

In the present study, we compared the performance of ternary nanoparticles in the existence of two selected polysaccharides (CMC and ALG) for encapsulation of bioactive 7,8-DHF but with low bioavailability. CMC/S/Z exhibited lower PDI, particle size and turbidity, but higher zeta potential and loading capacity compared to ALG/S/Z. Furthermore, both polysaccharides supplementations promoted the EE value of 7,8-DHF in S/Z, especially CMC. Invitation of polysaccharides displayed positive effects on the formation and physical stability (pH and ionic strength stability) of ternary complexes. The formation of ternary complexes mainly occurred via hydrophobic effects, hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. More significantly, compared to S/Z, ALG/S/Z, and CMC/S/Z obviously enhanced the storage stability and in vitro bioaccessibility of 7,8-DHF. CMC/S/Z possessed a higher storage stability for 7,8-DHF. In contrast, ALG/S/Z had a better in vitro bioaccessibility of 7,8-DHF. Collectively, the results of this study indicate that selected polysaccharides containing composite nanoparticles are efficient at encapsulating, retaining, and delivering 7,8-DHF, and might therefore be utilized in dietary supplements and functional foods. Future work will focus on the applicability of DHF-ALG/S/Z and DHF-CMC/S/Z in complex water-phase beverage systems. Besides, the transepithelial transport mechanism of DHF-ALG/S/Z in an Caco-2 cell model, and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies in rat will be also studies.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10 .3390/foods10112629/s1, Figure S1: The chemical structure of 7,8-DHF. Figure S2: Size distributions of nanoparticles with different zein to polysaccharide mass ratios, CMC/S/Z (A), ALG/S/Z (B). Figure S3: Size distributions of nanoparticles with different zein to polysaccharide mass ratios at pH = 4, CMC/S/Z (A), ALG/S/Z (B). Figure S4: The photograph of each colloidal particle at different pH conditions. Figure S5: The photograph of each colloidal particle at different NaCl concentrations.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, methodology, resources, funding acquisition and writing— original draft preparation, Y.C.; software and formal analysis, J.P. and X.G.; investigation and data curation, L.W. and Y.S.; writing—review and editing, D.W.; project administration, Y.W.; validation and supervision, G.X. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Zhejiang Province Public Welfare Technology Application Research Project -National Cooperation Project (grant number LGJ21C20001), Fund of Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Processing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China (grant number NYJG202104), Zhejiang Province Xinmiao Talents Program (grant number 2021R403035) and College students' Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training program of China (grant number 2021052 and 2021011).

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Acknowledgments:** All authors are thankful to their representative universities/institutes for the support and services used in this study.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
