Use of Marine Macroalgae Extracts in Foods and Their Antioxidative Effect against Lipid Oxidation

Abstract

Increased consumer demand for natural foods that are free from additives and new production techniques resulted in growing interest for natural additives. Antioxidants are a significant group of food ingredients inhibiting or delaying lipid oxidation even at minute concentrations. Synthetic antioxidants such as butylhydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, and tert-butyl-hydroquinone or natural antioxidants like tocopherols, ascorbic acid, carotenoids, flavonoids, amino acids, phospholipids and sterols are used in foods. Recently, the food industry has focused on the extraction and purification of natural antioxidative substances. For this reason, an interest towards marine macroalgae extracts as a good source of antioxidant constituents has been increasing. In the literature, marine macroalgae extracts (especially brown macroalgae) were reported to have strong antioxidant properties. In several studies, antioxidant compounds such as chorophyll, β-carotene, α-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, niacin, thiamine, polyphenols, polysaccharides, flavonoids, phospholipids, terpenoids and peptids were extracted from different macroalgae species. The effect of parameters such as different geographic regions, macroalgae species, solvents, extraction methods, extraction temperature and time on the antioxidative properties of macroalgae extracts were determined by several researchers. The aim of this review is to present the results of scientific studies on the antioxidant activity of macroalgae extract and to inform about their potential as a natural source of antioxidant substances in foods.