Gum Arabic as a functional biopolymer: from fundamental properties to emerging encapsulation of nutraceuticals and bioactive compounds

The current review aims to comprehensively cover the neglected gaps related to emerging aspects of GA as well as the challenges that may restrict its widespread application in food products and novel functional formulations. According to the results, in emulsification technique, while GA alone exhibits significant limitations—particularly in droplet size reduction, long-term stability, and chemical protection—its combination with complementary emulsifiers unlocks synergistic effects that dramatically enhance performance across multiple parameters. Over liquid emulsions , GA-based nanoparticles as versatile delivery vehicles offer enhanced protection of volatile and sensitive compounds through solid matrix encapsulation. In addition, the incorporation of GA in complexation with almost all of the studied carbohydrates, proteins and surfactants, led to higher encapsulation efficiency, notable bioaccessibility, and superior stability under thermal processing, UV-exposing, ion concentration, and pH fluctuation . However, the relative vulnerability of GA-protein complexes under severe acidic conditions is considered as a major drawback, must be addressed through specific strategies such as multilayer coating and chemical crosslinking. Furthermore, the contribution of GA in structure of coacervates, resulted in the prolonged release profiles of the entrapped bioactive ingredients which is sound the high potential of GA to develop capable bioactive carriers for targeted delivery purposes.