Use of yacon ( Smallanthus sonchifolius ) in encapsulation processes for functional and prebiotic applications: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis

This systematic and bibliometric review aims to evaluate the use of yacon in the encapsulation of bioactives and to identify research hotspots in this field over the last 10 years. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. Out of an initial pool of 770 articles, only six original studies published in English between 2015 and 2024 were selected. Most of the included studies focused on yacon encapsulated as juice or extract using the spray-drying technique. The encapsulation efficiency reported in these studies ranged from 41.5% to 85.49%, with particle size <100μm. The findings indicated that encapsulation did not compromise the antioxidant activity of the compounds. The bibliometric analysis highlighted keyword co-occurrence and co-authorship networks. This review demonstrated that encapsulation and wall materials effectively preserve bioactive compounds, supporting the potential of encapsulated yacon for prebiotic functional applications.