Recent advances in the structure, synthesis, and applications of natural polymeric hydrogels

Abstract

Hydrogels, polymeric network materials, are capable of swelling and holding the bulk of water in their three-dimensional structures upon swelling. In recent years, hydrogels have witnessed increased attention in food and biomedical applications. In this paper, the available literature related to the design concepts, types, functionalities, and applications of hydrogels with special emphasis on food applications was reviewed. Hydrogels from natural polymers are preferred over synthetic hydrogels. They are predominantly used in diverse food applications for example in encapsulation, drug delivery, packaging, and more recently for the fabrication of structured foods. Natural polymeric hydrogels offer immense benefits due to their extraordinary biocompatible nature. Hydrogels based on natural/edible polymers, for example, those from polysaccharides and proteins, can serve as prospective alternatives to synthetic polymer-based hydrogels. The utilization of hydrogels has so far been limited, despite their prospects to address various issues in the food industries. More research is needed to develop biomimetic hydrogels, which can imitate the biological characteristics in addition to the physicochemical properties of natural materials for different food applications.

Keywords:

• Hydrogel
• preparation
• foods
• controlled release
• packaging
• advances

Author contributions

K. Gul, R.Y. Gan, and Y.P. Fang conceived the idea, K. Gul and R.Y. Gan wrote the manuscript draft, C.X. Sun, J. Ge, D.T. Wu, H.B. Li, A. Kenaan, H. Corke, and Y.P. Fang edited the manuscript. The final version was approved by all authors.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Shanghai Basic and Key Program (18JC1410800) and the Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (No. Y2020XK05).