Abstract: With the rapid development of the modern food industry and gradually increased public awareness about a healthy diet, gel-based food products are increasingly favored by consumers due to their high water content, low calorie, appealing taste, and unique texture. Polysaccharides and proteins, natural biopolymers that are widely present in food systems, represent good raw materials for designing food gel structures. It has been recently suggested that the phase behavior of mixed polysaccharide and protein systems is the main factor governing the microstructural characteristics and physical properties of the final mixed gels. This paper clarifies the phase behavior of mixed binary systems of polysaccharide and protein and the factors influencing it and summarizes the design principles of food gels based on mixed polysaccharide and protein systems. Finally, it exemplifies the practical applications of mixed systems of whey protein and several common polysaccharides in building gel structures, highlighting their great potential in designing food gel structures.

Key words: protein; polysaccharide; phase behavior; gel; structure