Stability of probiotics through encapsulation: comparative analysis of current methods and solutions de Deus, Cassandra Duque-Soto, Carmen María Rueda-Robles, Ascensión Martínez-Baena, Daniel Borras Linares, María Isabel Quirantes-Pine, Rosa María Ragagnin de Menezes, Cristiano Lozano Sánchez, Jesús Spray drying Freeze-drying Emulsification Probiotics have awakened a great interest in the scientific community for their potential beneficial effects on health. Although only allowed by the European Food Safety Agency as a nutrition declaration associated with the improvement of lactose digestion, recent in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated their varied beneficial effect for the improvement of certain pathologies. However, probiotics face stability and viability challenges, which make their delivery difficult in sufficient quantities for these effects to be observed. Thus, there is a dire need for the development and implantation of innovative technological protection procedures. In this sense, encapsulation rises as a widely applied technique, offering additional advantages. In the present study, a systematic review was conducted for the evaluation of the main encapsulation technologies applied in literature, considering operating conditions, probiotics, and encapsulation efficacy. For this purpose, several conditions are evaluated: a) the characteristics, storage conditions and viability of probiotics; b) evaluation and comparison of the probiotic stabilization for the main encapsulation methods; and c) co-encapsulation with potential bioactive molecules as a new alternative for improving cell viability. This evaluation revealed the efficacy of seven encapsulation techniques on the improvement of the stability and viability of probiotics. 2026-02-17T08:29:50Z 2026-02-17T08:29:50Z 2024-12 journal article Published version: de Deus, C.; Duque-Soto, C. M.; Rueda-Robles, A. [et al.]. (2024). Stability of probiotics through encapsulation: comparative analysis of current methods and solutions. Food Research International Volume 197, Part 1, December 2024, 115183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2024.115183 1873-7145 0963-9969 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111055 10.1016/j.foodres.2024.115183 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ open access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional Elsevier