Bigels as novel carriers of bioactive compounds: Applications and research trends

Bigels have drawn more attention recently than other carriers because of their improved storage stability and potential for longer intestinal release. Due to their poor solubility, quick oxidation, and high degradation during physiological transit, bioactive compounds (bioactives) like flavors, essential oils, vitamins, and antioxidants are challenging to supply in food systems. Bigels are a new family of soft solid gels with intriguing release qualities, which can deliver drugs/nutritional supplement components. In order to design functional foods with bioactive-loaded bigels, this paper attempts to obtain a deeper understanding of the structures and functionalities of bigels as carriers by improving their stability and bioavailability. By manipulating the physical properties of bigels, such as how they behave during digestion in the digestive tract, it is possible to create bigels that behave differently in various environments. By adjusting bigels’ stability and release properties, the bioavailability of the incorporated bioactives would be enhanced. Also, bigels are appropriate for the production of foods with lower fat content.