Recent Progressions in Applications of Bioactive Polysaccharides in Food and Health Sciences: A Comprehensive Review

Nowadays, the incidence and mortality rates of diseases remain major challenges throughout the world. To stop these health-threatening concerns, a safe diet plays a pivotal role. Polysaccharides, as natural biopolymers, possess remarkable potential in the development of safe and healthy foods to prevent the incidence of diseases and guarantee health. These abundant biopolymers have a high rate of practicality in the food industry and biomedical sciences. Polysaccharides can be found in various living organisms (including plants, seaweeds, animals, and microorganisms) and extracted by a number of advanced techniques. The anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, anticoagulant, antiviral, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides have considerable features in the food and health sciences. The applications of polysaccharides in food sciences are mainly owing to ameliorating fatigue, preserving the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract, and providing health for the gut in living organisms. Moreover, polysaccharides have practical applications in pharmaceutical (drug delivery systems) and biomedical (regenerative medicine) sciences, which pave the way for the treatment of diseases. This comprehensive review highlights the potential applications of polysaccharides in food and health sciences.