The growing interest in probiotic bacteria within the food industry is driven by their recognized health benefits for consumers. However, preserving their therapeutic viability and stability during gastrointestinal transit remains a formidable challenge. Hence, this research aimed to enhance the viability of Lactobacillus reuteri through microencapsulation using a binary polysaccharide mixture composed of low acyl gellan gum (LAG), high acyl gellan gum (HAG), and calcium for the microencapsulation of L. reuteri. To achieve this, the Box–Behnken design was applied, targeting the optimization of L. reuteri microencapsulated to withstand simulated gastrointestinal conditions. The microcapsules were crafted using the internal ionic gelation method, and optimization was performed using response surface methodology (RSM) based on the Box–Behnken design. The model demonstrated robust predictive power, with R2 values exceeding 95% and a lack of fit greater than p > 0.05. Under optimized conditions—0.88% (w/v) LAG, 0.43% (w/v) HAG, and 24.44 mM Ca—L. reuteri reached a viability of 97.43% following the encapsulation process. After 4 h of exposure to simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and intestinal fluid (SIF), the encapsulated cells maintained a viable count of 8.02 log CFU/mL. These promising results underscore the potential of biopolymer-based microcapsules, such as those containing LAG and HAG, as an innovative approach for safeguarding probiotics during gastrointestinal passage, paving the way for new probiotic-enriched food products.
González-Cuello et al. (Tue,) studied this question.