Recent advances in carrageenan-based delivery systems for bioactive ingredients: A review

Background: Carrageenan-based delivery systems present great performance in the delivery of bioactive ingredients, which can improve the stability and bioavailability of bioactive ingredients. In recent years, carrageenan-based delivery systems for bioactive ingredients have received considerable attention in the food industry. In the future, carrageenan-based delivery systems for bioactive ingredients will have a promising application perspective in the food industry. Scope and approach: This review focuses on introducing different types of carrageenan-based nutraceutical delivery systems. Besides, the factors affecting the performance of such delivery systems are analyzed. Finally, some challenges regarding the design and preparation of carrageenan-based nutraceutical delivery systems and research trends are presented. Key findings and conclusions: At present, extensively-studied carrageenan-based nutraceutical delivery systems mainly consist of nanoparticles, hydrogels, emulsions, complexes, microcapsules, microbeads, nanotubes and aerogels. The performance of carrageenan-based nutraceutical delivery systems can be affected by many factors, such as carrageenan type, the ratio between biopolymers, crosslinking agents, adding order of materials, pH value and so on. There are also some challenges in the development of such delivery systems. In addition to solving these problems, the trends of future research will be the combination of different carrageenan-based nutraceutical delivery systems with synergistic effects, new-type and environmentally responsive carrageenanbased nutraceutical delivery systems, in vivo experiments and the establishment of more realistic models. In conclusion, carrageenan-based delivery systems for bioactive ingredients will have a bright prospect with their further development.