Development of Emulsion Gels for the Delivery of Functional Food Ingredients: from Structure to Functionality

Emulsion gels are widely used in food products, and they have the characteristics of both emulsions and biopolymer gels. When distributed in gels, functional ingredients are protected by the gels and immobilized by the gel network, and thus, they usually have improved physicochemical stability. Emulsion gels are generally prepared based on proteins, polysaccharides, or their mixtures, and characteristics of the oil droplets played essential roles in the properties and functions of the systems. Emulsion gels can be fabricated to behave differently when encountered with different environment by controlling the physical structures of the gels, including their digestion behaviors in the digestive tract, which allowed adjustment of the stability and releasing behaviors of the incorporated functional ingredients, contributing to their enhanced bioavailability. A lot of studies in the last 10 years have proved that emulsion gels can effectively deliver vitamins, carotenoids, minerals, phenolic bioactives, flavors, unsaturated fatty acids, and other functional ingredients, and they are also suitable for the development of fat-reduced food. This article systematically reviewed recent studies regarding the use of emulsion gels as delivery systems for various functional ingredients, trying to get an improved understanding of the structures and functionalities of emulsion gels, for the better design of functional foods.