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Food wastes are important raw materials for obtaining valuable ingredients with broad applications in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical sectors. This work aims to optimize the high-power ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of proteins from brewer’s spent grains (BSG) using a factorial design (23) and compare their nutritional and techno-functional properties with proteins obtained by conventional extraction (CME). The optimized UAE condition was 550 W, 10 min, and 65°C, resulting in concentrates with a protein content 8% higher than the CME in an extraction time reduced by 92%. Furthermore, the essential amino acid fraction was higher in UAE, providing good digestibility, antioxidant action, and technological properties (emulsification, foam, water and oil retention and solubility). Thus, the use of UAE to extract proteins from BSG is satisfactory, favoring the obtaining of protein concentrates with good technological, functional, and nutritional performances, enhancing their use as an ingredient in foods, pharmaceuticals, or cosmetics products.

Bioactive compounds derived from food or plants have become a natural source with the potential for producing functional, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical foods due to their biological functions and beneficial health effects. However, to perform such physiological processes, these compounds need to be absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract. Among the existing technologies, nanoencapsulation increases physical stability, protection, and the contact surface, facilitating the solubility and bioavailability of such compounds. In this type of encapsulation, lipid nanocarriers are promising carriers due to their lipid structure and containing hydrophilic surfactant, capable of facilitating the intestinal absorption of active compounds. However, in food or drugs, one of the significant challenges for applying bioactive compounds on a nanoscale is the lack of in vivo studies that establish safety limits for cytotoxicity. This review covered recent studies on the encapsulation of natural bioactive compounds in different types of lipid nanocarriers. In addition to methods for obtaining and characterizing nanocarriers, bioactivities with beneficial potential for human health, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, and neuroprotective, are mentioned. The manuscript deals with the bioaccessibility of active compounds, new perspectives, and challenges for applying lipid nanocarriers.