Human Colonic Bacterial Degradability of Dietary Fibres from Sea-Lettuce (Ulva sp)

Bioactive compounds in seaweed: functional food applications and legislation

“…The highest contents are found in species such as Ascophyllum, Porphyra and Palmaria; however, green seaweed species such as Ulva also have a high content, up to 65% of dry weight. Horn (2000); b Marsham et al (2007); c Foti (2007); d Wen et al (2006); e References in Jensen and Haug (1956); f Lamare and Wing (2001); g Rupérez and Saura-Calixto (2001); h Baardseth and Haug (1953); i Larsen and Haug (1958); j Herbreteau et al (1997); k Rioux et al (2007); l Rupérez (2002); m Jensen (1960); n Jensen (1966); o Jensen (1960); p Je et al (2009); q Murata and Nakazoe (2001); r Marinho-Soriano et al (2006); s Robledo and FreilePelegrín (1997); t Ortiz et al (2006); u Ventura and Castañón (1998); v Bobin-Dubigeon et al (1997); w Foster and Hodgson (1998); x Wong and Cheung (2001b); y Wong and Cheung (2000); z Simpson and Shacklock (1979); aa Holdt (2009); bb Arasaki and Arasaki (1983); cc Mishra et al (1993); dd Morgan et al (1980) Seaweeds are low in calories from a nutritional perspective. The lipid content is low, and even though the carbohydrate content is high, most of this is dietary fibres and not taken up by the human body.…”

“…Carrageenans are also used as suspension agents and stabilisers in other drugs, lotions and medicinal creams. Jensen and Haug (1956); e Bartsch et al (2008); f Zubia et al (2008); g Jensen (1960); h Larsen and Haug (1958); i Gessner (1971); j Lobban and Harrison (1994); k Deville et al (2007); l Rioux et al (2007); m Arasaki and Arasaki (1983) Kiriyama et al (1969), Lamela et al (1989) and Panlasigui et al (2003); s Miao et al (1999); t Nishide and Uchida (2003); u Renn et al (1994a, b); v Shanmugam and Mody (2000); w Kuznetsova et al (1994); x Mayer et al (2007); y Plaza et al (2008); z Noda (1993); aa Bobin-Dubigeon et al (1997); bb Michel and Macfarlane (1996); cc Kaeffer et al (1999); dd Lahaye and Robic (2007); ee Nagaoka et al (2003) Other medical applications are as an anticoagulant in blood products and for the treatment of bowel problems such as diarrhoea, constipation and dysentery. They are also used to make internal poultices to control stomach ulcers (Morrissey et al 2001).…”

“…Consumption of dietary fibres from Ulva sp. could be expected to act mainly as bullring agents with little effect on nutrient metabolism due to colonic bacterial fermentation products (short-chain fatty acids; Bobin-Dubigeon et al 1997). All soluble fibre fractions of P. palmata consisted of linear beta-1,4/beta1,3 mixed linked xylans containing similar amounts of 1,4 linkages (70.5-80.2%).…”

Extraction and physico-chemical characterization of a versatile biodegradable polysaccharide obtained from green algae

“…Ulvan is mostly composed of rhamnose, glucuronic acid, iduronic acid, xylose and sulfate. 8 To extract ulvan from green algae, different methodologies have been employed, [9][10][11][12] based on the solubility of this polysaccharide in water. However, a special concern must be given to purification, as it will be of outmost importance to the final use of this polymer.…”

“…An important input and insight on ulvan's properties has been already given by many research works. [8][9][10][12][13][14][15][16] Still, many of its characteristics and properties remain unknown, namely, on what concerns its thermal trace and crystallinity. The precise knowledge of thermal behaviour and crystallinity of this polysaccharide assumes a crucial role on its characterization, as different properties, such as mechanical performance and solubility, among others, are expected to be directly influenced by these features.…”