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Review
. 2023 Aug 11;9(8):648.
doi: 10.3390/gels9080648.

Bigels as Delivery Systems: Potential Uses and Applicability in Food

Alyssa Francavilla  1 , Maria G Corradini  1   2 , Iris J Joye  1
Affiliations
Review

Bigels as Delivery Systems: Potential Uses and Applicability in Food

Alyssa Francavilla et al. Gels. .

Abstract

Bigels have been mainly applied in the pharmaceutical sector for the controlled release of drugs or therapeutics. However, these systems, with their intricate structures, hold great promise for wider application in food products. Besides their classical role as carrier and target delivery vehicles for molecules of interest, bigels may also be valuable tools for building complex food structures. In the context of reducing or even eliminating undesirable (but often highly functional) food components, current strategies often critically affect food structure and palatability. The production of solid fat systems that are trans-fat-free and have high levels of unsaturated fatty acids is one of the challenges the food industry currently faces. According to recent studies, bigels can be successfully used as ingredients for total or partial solid fat replacement in complex food matrices. This review aims to critically assess current research on bigels in food and pharmaceutical applications, discuss the role of bigel composition and production parameters on the characteristics of bigels and further expand the use of bigels as solid fat replacers and functional food ingredients. The hydrogel:oleogel ratio, selected gelators, inclusion of surfactants and encapsulation of molecules of interest, and process parameters (e.g., temperature, shear rate) during bigel production play a crucial role in the bigel's rheological and textural properties, microstructure, release characteristics, biocompatibility, and stability. Besides exploring the role of these parameters in bigel production, future research directions for bigels in a food context are explored.

Keywords: bigels; controlled release; food; hydrogels; organogels; solid fat replacement.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Current pharmaceutical (left) and food (right) applications of bigels. Illustration created with biorender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic illustration of organogels, hydrogels, and bigel matrices. Illustration created with biorender.com.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Flow diagram for bigel production via two main mixing methods. (i) Individual hydrogels/organogels are set, and then combined by high shear mixing. (ii) The bigel is produced via high shear mixing of the hydrogel and organogel. Illustration created with biorender.com.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic overview of analytical techniques commonly applied during bigel characterization. Illustration created with biorender.com.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematic diagram of potential “unconventional” bigels with added complexity. Illustration created with biorender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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