Food industry applications of Tara gum and its modified forms

Abstract

Over the last few decades, a lot of investigations have been directed towards naturally occurring polymers because of their useful physicochemical properties. Among the naturally occurring polymers, the polysaccharides have received much attention in drug delivery and biomedical fields. Tara gum is one of such polysaccharides being widely explored in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and biomedical fields like protection of bioactives from environmental degradation, packaging of food materials, controlled release drug delivery systems, etc. The gum has also been suitably derivatized. Its modified forms have been explored in biomedical applications like superabsorbent polymers which find application in diapers, gardening, and agriculture in arid regions. However, summarizations of this progress are not available in the literature. This article thus aims to give a summary of the source, structural interpretation, and rheological analysis of the gum. The article also aims to furnish the depth of information available in the literature emphasizing the applications of the gum and its modified form in pharmaceutical and biomedical areas.

Keywords

• Tara gum
• Polysaccharide
• Modification