Nowadays, one of the most important research directions that concerns the scientific world is to exploit the earth’s resources in a sustainable way. Considering the increasing interest in finding new sources of bioactive molecules and functional products, many research studies focused their interest on demonstrating the sustainability of exploiting marine macroalgal biomass as feedstock for wastewater treatment and natural fertilizer, conversion into green biofuels, active ingredients in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, or even for the production of functional ingredients and integration in the human food chain. The objective of the present paper was to provide an overview on the recent progress in the exploitation of different macroalgae species as a source of bioactive compounds, mainly emphasizing the latter published data regarding their potential bioactivities, health benefits, and industrial applications.

Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in polyphenols’ research since these compounds, as antioxidants, have several health benefits, such as preventing neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes. This study implements an analytical method to assess the total phenolic content (TPC) in essential oils using Folin–Ciocalteu’s phenol reagent and quantifies the individual phenolic compounds by liquid chromatography. Thus, the research design and methodology included: (1) extraction of essential oil from dried thyme leaves by hydrodistillation; (2) spectrophotometric measurement of TPC by Folin–Ciocalteu method; and (3) identification and quantification of individual phenolic compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS). Results revealed a TPC of 22.62 ± 0.482 mg GAE/100 µL and a polyphenolic profile characterized by phenolic acids (52.1%), flavonoids (16.1%), and other polyphenols (31.8%). Thymol, salvianolic acid A, and rosmarinic acid were the major compounds of thyme essential oil. The proposed analytical procedure has an acceptable level of repeatability, reproducibility, linearity, LOD (limit of detection), and LOQ (limit of quantification).

Nowadays, the pandemic situation has encouraged the idea of sustainable healthy foods leading to new trends in food consumption. Brewers spent grain (BSG) represents a potential functional food rich in fiber, protein, lipids, mineral and phenols that needs to be further exploited. In this vein, five different BSG types were collected from local breweries and valorized in cookies manufacturing. Thus, proximate composition (protein, minerals, lipids, ash, crude fiber and carbohydrates) was analyzed using AACC (American Association of Cereal Chemists) methods, DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), and Folin Ciocalteu methods were used to determined antioxidant activity and total phenols, while minerals and aroma volatile compounds were performed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and ITEX/GC-MS (in tube extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) respectively. Color and physical characteristics, together with sensorial analysis, were also evaluated. The results highlighted a significant difference between BSG samples, mainly from the total phenols, antioxidant activity and aroma volatile compounds point of view. BSG volatiles compounds from the aldehydes group such as 2-methyl-propanal, 3-methyl-butanal and 2-methyl-butanal were identified also in the final baked goods, leading to a pleasant and appreciated consumers’ taste and aroma. Furthermore, cookies sensorial analysis emphasized that the sample manufactured with BSG from light and dark malt mixture was more appreciated by consumers, attaining the highest hedonic scores.

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