| Summary: | Biogels provide biocompatible, biodegradable, renewable, easy to obtain, inexpensive, non-toxic and sustainable materials for food bioactive delivery. This review aimed to discuss the different aspects related to biogels (hydrogels, oleogels and bigels) as delivery vehicles for food bioactive compounds, and provided future research insights. The materials generally used in biogel preparation are protein or polysaccharides, lipids and water. Methods, such as surface coating with surfactants, 3D-printing, nanotechnology, microwave hydrodiffusion and gravity technology, electric field-based extrusion, cold gelation, double emulsion template, beeswax gelator, etc., are recent technologies presently used in biogel processing. These technologies produce biogels with better structural, rheological, mechanical and nutritional properties than the traditionally prepared ones. Biogels offer better solubility, stability and controlled release of food bioactive ingredients, such as curcumin, β-carotene, lycopene, etc. Future research should carry out in vivo experiment, develop realistic models, optimize the processing conditions, do a techno-economic analyses of the production process, consider the delivery of multiple bioactives and develop environmentally-responsive biogel type.
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