Bioactive compounds from micro-algae and its application in foods: a review

Abstract

The marine ecosystem is a vast source of diversified biota that includes more than half of the world’s biota including marine microorganisms; algae, invertebrates, and fish. Most of these organisms constitute complex biomolecules, allowing, them to thrive under extreme environmental conditions. These biomolecules are proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, phenolics, peptides, etc. perform various biological functions depending on the source. In addition to the basic functions, they also exhibit diverse functional properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, antidiabetic and antihypertensive properties etc., which make them potential candidates for application in the food and pharmaceutical industry. The marine microalgae and cyanobacteria are a very rich source of these functional molecules with several biological applications related with health benefits and food applications. The viewpoint details the potential and bioactive compound profile of marine micro algae, extraction and characterization of bioactive compounds from marine micro algae and its application in the food industry.