Food-Grade polymers as smart carriers for maternal nutrition and fetal protection

Maternal nutrition plays a pivotal role in ensuring optimal health outcomes for both mother and fetus. However, natural bioactive compounds such as omega-3 fatty acids, polyphenols, and probiotics face major limitations, including poor stability, low solubility, and limited bioavailability during pregnancy. Food-grade polymers have emerged as promising delivery platforms to overcome these challenges by enhancing stability, protecting against degradation, masking undesirable flavors, and enabling controlled or site-specific release. This review synthesizes recent advances in polymer-based encapsulation strategies for maternal nutrition, focusing on biopolymers such as alginate, pectin, chitosan, gum arabic, and protein–polysaccharide composites. Encapsulation techniques including spray-drying, complex coacervation, hydrogels, and nanoparticles are highlighted for their ability to improve bioactive delivery and efficacy. We further examine preclinical and clinical evidence, safety considerations, and regulatory challenges that must be addressed before translation into maternal health interventions. Overall, food-grade polymers represent a promising tool to transform maternal nutrition into more effective, sustainable, and personalized strategies; however, industrial scalability, long-term safety, and standardized clinical validation remain pressing gaps for future research.