Polysaccharide-based intelligent responsive colloidal carriers for food bioactives: Structures, stimuli-triggered release mechanism and applications.

Driven by growing health awareness and advances in precision nutrition, the targeted incorporation of bioactive compounds such as vitamins and probiotics into food systems is gaining increasing attention. However, their inherent instability during processing and low bioavailability in the gastrointestinal tract remain key challenges limiting their efficacy. Intelligent Responsive Delivery Systems (IRDS) offer promising strategies to overcome these obstacles by utilizing stimulus-triggered release mechanisms. This review focuses on food-grade colloidal carriers based on polysaccharides, summarizing natural polysaccharides sources, structural formulae, and molecular weights. IRDS are categorized, and response mechanisms and design strategies are highlighted. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of each delivery system are discussed. Finally, the challenges of current research on responsive delivery systems and their future research directions are presented. Currently, IRDS are maturing in the biomedical field, however, there is a lack of comprehensive explanation of their natural responsive materials and responsive delivery mechanisms in the food field. While enhancing compound stability and bioavailability, challenges remain in scalability, response precision, and safety validation. Future research should focus on the validation of multi-stimulus synergistic response systems and mechanisms to realize the innovation of colloidal delivery of functional foods and personalized nutrition.