Scholarlink

<p>The growing interest in the gut microbiome has positioned probiotics, prebiotics, and essential nutrients as critical modulators of human metabolic health. However, the clinical efficacy of these bioactive agents remains limited due to harsh gastrointestinal conditions, poor stability during processing, and insufficient delivery to target intestinal sites. Encapsulation technologies—ranging from conventional microencapsulation to advanced nanocarriers, hybrid biopolymer matrices, and stimuli-responsive delivery systems—have emerged as promising strategies to overcome these barriers. This review summarises recent advances in encapsulation methods for probiotics and nutrients, examining their potential to enhance gut microbiota composition, restore intestinal barrier integrity, and regulate metabolic pathways. Encapsulation systems not only protect probiotics from gastric acidity, bile salts, oxidation, and thermal degradation but also improve colonisation efficiency and prolong survival within the gastrointestinal tract. Similarly, encapsulated nutrients such as vitamins, polyphenols, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, and SCFA precursors demonstrate significantly enhanced bioavailability and targeted release, leading to more predictable metabolic and immunological responses. Moreover, co-encapsulation of probiotics with prebiotics has shown synergistic improvements in SCFA production, anti-inflammatory activity, and glycemic control. Current evidence from in vitro studies, animal models, and clinical trials demonstrates that encapsulated probiotic and nutrient systems outperform their unencapsulated counterparts in improving insulin sensitivity, lipid metabolism, inflammatory markers, gut barrier function, and neuroendocrine signalling along the gut–brain axis. Although encapsulation technologies demonstrate significant potential, their effectiveness is influenced by formulation variability, strain specificity, and host-dependent responses. Moreover, current evidence is limited by insufficient long-term clinical validation. These limitations highlight the need for standardised approaches and robust clinical trials to support real-world applications.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Encapsulation techniques for targeted delivery of probiotics and nutrients in gut health and metabolism enhancement

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月22日

查看全文
  • Manjula Elumalai,
  • Shobana Sampath,
  • Yuvarani Krishnan,
  • Ali Kudamba

摘要

The growing interest in the gut microbiome has positioned probiotics, prebiotics, and essential nutrients as critical modulators of human metabolic health. However, the clinical efficacy of these bioactive agents remains limited due to harsh gastrointestinal conditions, poor stability during processing, and insufficient delivery to target intestinal sites. Encapsulation technologies—ranging from conventional microencapsulation to advanced nanocarriers, hybrid biopolymer matrices, and stimuli-responsive delivery systems—have emerged as promising strategies to overcome these barriers. This review summarises recent advances in encapsulation methods for probiotics and nutrients, examining their potential to enhance gut microbiota composition, restore intestinal barrier integrity, and regulate metabolic pathways. Encapsulation systems not only protect probiotics from gastric acidity, bile salts, oxidation, and thermal degradation but also improve colonisation efficiency and prolong survival within the gastrointestinal tract. Similarly, encapsulated nutrients such as vitamins, polyphenols, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, and SCFA precursors demonstrate significantly enhanced bioavailability and targeted release, leading to more predictable metabolic and immunological responses. Moreover, co-encapsulation of probiotics with prebiotics has shown synergistic improvements in SCFA production, anti-inflammatory activity, and glycemic control. Current evidence from in vitro studies, animal models, and clinical trials demonstrates that encapsulated probiotic and nutrient systems outperform their unencapsulated counterparts in improving insulin sensitivity, lipid metabolism, inflammatory markers, gut barrier function, and neuroendocrine signalling along the gut–brain axis. Although encapsulation technologies demonstrate significant potential, their effectiveness is influenced by formulation variability, strain specificity, and host-dependent responses. Moreover, current evidence is limited by insufficient long-term clinical validation. These limitations highlight the need for standardised approaches and robust clinical trials to support real-world applications.