A Narrative Review on Microencapsulation of Obligate Anaerobe Probiotics Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia muciniphila, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii

Probiotics have been reported to exhibit various potential health and nutritional benefits. However, the efficient delivery of these probiotics to the intestine for the health benefit of the host is of much interest. Microencapsulation came up as an efficient technique to protect probiotics during gastrointestinal (GI) transit. There are many studies and reviews related to microencapsulated probiotics, but no review has been published on the microencapsulation of anaerobic probiotics especially the obligate anaerobic probiotics Bifidobacterium genus. This review article aims to summarize the microencapsulation of obligate anaerobe Bifidobacterium and seek out the optimal encapsulating methods for strictly anaerobic microbes-next-generation probiotics. The studies related to the microencapsulation of strictly anaerobic bacteria especially Bifidobacterium, Akkermansia muciniphila and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii published in the last 5 years have been reviewed. This review summarizes the encapsulants, techniques for microencapsulation, the viability of probiotics during storage and their stability in GI.