In food science, the application of bioactive compounds is promising, but the deficiencies in their solubility, stability, and bioavailability seriously limit their efficacy. Co-delivery can control the release of bioactive substances and achieve synergistic effects to enhance efficacy. For this reason, co-delivery systems have emerged as a novel strategy that has attracted much attention from researchers in recent years. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the unique properties of different bioactive ingredients and systematically describes the latest research progress of co-encapsulation systems such as emulsions, nanoparticles, and liposomes. It also introduces their advanced characterization tools. Meanwhile, the kinetic law of the release of bioactive ingredients in vivo and its molecular mechanism are discussed in depth through experimental data and theoretical analysis. In addition, the potential application value of the co-encapsulation system in the food industry is also introduced in detail. In summary, this study not only provides a solid theoretical foundation and rich reference basis for further research in the field of co-encapsulation, but also provides new ideas and directions to promote the construction and development of rational and efficient co-encapsulation systems, and to promote the innovation and development of functional foods and precision nutrition.

To effectively deliver lutein, hydrothermally prepared tea seed cake protein nanoparticles (TSCPN) were used to fabricate Pickering emulsion, and the bioaccessibility of lutein encapsulated by Pickering emulsion and the conventional emulsion was evaluated in vitro. The results indicated that the average size and absolute value of zeta potential of TSCPN increased along with the increase in the protein concentration, and 2% protein concentration was adopted to prepare TSCPN. With the increase in the concentration of TSCPN, the size of Pickering emulsion decreased from 337.02 μm to 89.36 μm, and when the TSCPN concentration was greater than 0.6%, all emulsions exhibited good stability during the 14 days storage. Combined with the microstructure result, 1.2% TSCPN was used to stabilize Pickering emulsion. With the increase in ionic concentration (0–400 mM), the particle size of the emulsions increased while the absolute value of zeta potential decreased. TSCPN-based Pickering emulsion was superior to the conventional emulsion for both lutein encapsulation (96.6 ± 1.0% vs. 82.1 ± 1.4%) and bioaccessibility (56.0 ± 1.1% vs. 35.2 ± 1.2%). Thus, TSCPN-based Pickering emulsion in this study have the potential as an effective carrier for lutein.

This study aimed to design a Pickering emulsion (PE) stabilized by whey protein isolate nanofibers (WPINs) prepared with subcritical water (SW) to encapsulate and prevent curcumin (Cur) degradation. Cur-loaded WPINs–SW stabilized PE (WPINs–SW–PE) and hydrothermally prepared WPINs stabilized PE (WPINs–H–PE) were characterized using the particle size, zeta potential, Congo Red, CD, and TEM. The results indicated that WPINs–SW–PE and WPINs–H–PE showed regular spherical shapes with average lengths of 26.88 ± 1.11 μm and 175.99 ± 2.31 μm, and zeta potential values were −38.00 ± 1.00 mV and −34.60 ± 2.03 mV, respectively. The encapsulation efficiencies of WPINs–SW–PE and WPINs–H–PE for Cur were 96.72 ± 1.05% and 94.07 ± 2.35%. The bio-accessibility of Cur of WPINs–SW–PE and WPINs–H–PE were 57.52 ± 1.24% and 21.94 ± 2.09%. In addition, WPINs–SW–PE had a better loading effect and antioxidant activities compared with WPINs–H–PE. SW could be a potential processing method to prepare a PE, laying the foundation for the subsequent production of functional foods.