A review on recent advances of plant mucilages and their applications in food industry: Extraction, functional properties and health benefits

Plant mucilages have been used for many applications as stabilizers, emulsifiers, thickening or gelling agents, viscosity modifiers, encapsulating agents and food packaging materials (stand-alone films, coatings). In these studies, it has been reported that plant mucilages have potential to extend the shelf-life of food products when applied as coatings or packaging films by reducing the oxidative reactions, microbial spoilage. Besides, they exert required mechanical integrity, and/or barrier against water, and provide active properties as carriers of aroma compounds or antioxidant and antimicrobial agents. Along with their digestive health promoting activities, mucilages also can be used as a fat replacer to reduce the calorie of added food product. Acting as biopolymeric encapsulating agent, mucilages can protect antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds or retain viability of probiotic bacteria in gastrointestinal system with their controlled release properties.

This review shows an overview of literature concerning the chemistry, extraction and recent uses of seed mucilage in food industry including encapsulation, emulsion/stabilization, edible film or coating applications, as well as their possible health benefits or employement for drug delivery purposes.