Recent trends and applications of polysaccharides for microencapsulation of probiotics

Abstract The viability of probiotic bacteria is always questionable when they exposed to the harsh environment and thus microencapsulation of probiotic bacteria is generally applied to enhance the viability during processing, storage, and also for the target delivery in gastrointestinal tract. Polysaccharide is one of the most widely used wall material in the area of probiotic microencapsulation. However, with the increasing demand and new application areas for probiotic microcapsules, traditionally used polysaccharides can barely satisfy such challenges. Therefore, seeking for new kinds of polysaccharides with preponderant properties that suitable for probiotic microencapsulation is now catching the interest of researchers and has important implication. This review focuses on the application of polysaccharides in the area of probiotic microencapsulation, including to classify the traditional polysaccharides according to their characteristic properties used especially for microencapsulation of probiotics, as well as to give a critical perspective on emerging polysaccharides applied as wall materials to encapsulate probiotic bacteria.