Metabolites Unravel Nutraceutical Potential of Edible Seaweeds: An Emerging Source of Functional Food

Abstract

Functional foods are nutritional compounds which also provide health and medicinal benefits. Daily food intake has much impact on the quality of life, and therefore inclusion of functional foods is now essential to our diet. Nutraceuticals are neither food nor drug but are added to food to provide extra nutritional and physiological properties. Though nutraceutical compounds provide minimal actions, their regular involvement in the diet can provide major and long‐term health benefits. Global demand for additional and sustainable biomass for the production of important metabolites with nutraceutical potential has resulted in renewed interest in seaweeds. Seaweeds have been consumed from ancient times in Asian areas, and in recent times they have been demonstrated to possess many medicinal effects. Seaweeds are considered a rich source of various nutritional ingredients and metabolites that have pharmaceutical properties. It has been observed that total protein, from terrestrial plants such as soybean and wheat, produces an allergic response on consumption. Therefore, seaweed proteins can be considered a promising source for food industries. Overall, seaweeds are a rich source of PUFAs, metabolites, proteins, sulfated polysaccharides, vitamins, and minerals, which are all responsible for different bioactivities; they are therefore considered a promising functional food (nutraceutical). In this review we discuss the nutraceutical potential of seaweeds regarding different metabolites (primary and secondary), variation in composition, probable biological applications, limitations, research gaps, and future prospects.

Phenolic, flavonoid, and amino acid compositions reveal that selected tropical seaweeds have the potential to be functional food ingredients

“…Seaweeds are considered a good source of protein, as they contain all essential amino acids, acidic amino acids, and conditional essential amino acids (Tanna & Mishra, ). Amino acid profiling of selected seaweeds confirmed that they contain higher concentration of some essential amino acids than the milk and egg protein consumed worldwide (Øverland, Mydland, & Skrede, ).…”

“…Ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C, is a water‐soluble vitamin that is widely used to avoid common infections, and ascorbic‐acid rich seaweeds are considered a potential dietary supplement or food additive (Tanna & Mishra, ). In our study, we observed that all the selected tropical seaweeds (except CRM and SL) possessed high amounts of ascorbic acid, especially Ulva spp.…”

“…Seaweeds have been used as a food source in various Asian countries since ancient times, and more recently have been explored for their nutraceutical potential (Tanna & Mishra, ). Seaweeds are a valid candidate to be considered as functional foods (De Quiros, Lage‐Yusty, & López‐Hernández, ), and demand is increasing in European and U.S. markets due to the benefits to nutrition and health and many consumer's preference for organic food (Tanna & Mishra, ).…”

“…Seaweeds are rich sources of secondary metabolites, including phenolic compounds and flavonoids (Tanna & Mishra, ), that are natural antioxidants and help them to survive in stressful oceanic habitats. Antioxidants, for example, phenolic compounds and flavonoids, are reducing agents that act on oxidizing substances, such as free radicals, terminating reactions before key macromolecules or cells get damaged (Ware, ).…”

Nutraceutical Potential of Seaweed Polysaccharides: Structure, Bioactivity, Safety, and Toxicity

“…Seaweeds are macroalgae, with high nutritional, nutraceutical, and medicinal properties (Cunha & Grenha, ; Hamed, Özogul, Özogul, & Regenstein, ; Ito & Hori, ; Kılınç, Cirik, Turan, Tekogul, & Koru, ; Mabeau & Fleurence, ; Pereira, ; Rupérez, Gómez‐Ordóñez, & Jiménez‐Escrig, ; Tanna & Mishra, ). Asian and European countries use seaweeds as fertilizers for agriculture, as well as thickening and gelling agents for industrial applications (Kılınç et al., ; Kraan, ).…”