Algae as nutritional and bioactive food ingredients

Abstract

Humanity currently presents many challenges, among which efficient food production is one of the greatest, which is why research is carried out to find unconventional protein sources. A potential alternative is algae (unicellular or multicellular), which generally develop in aquatic environments, whether in fresh or salt water, with the characteristic that they carry out photosynthesis. These organisms have various colors due to their pigments such as chlorophyll, phycocyanin, carotene, fucoxanthin, among others. Although the consumption of algae is very old, special attention has currently been paid to their nutritional quality since they show a high concentration of minerals, vitamins and proteins with low caloric and lipid content, and have also shown antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, antihypertensive, immunomodulatory, anticancer, hepatoprotective, anticoagulant activities, among others, which is why they are considered functional or nutraceuticals foods. Algae have been present in the cuisine of many cultures. New food products have also been developed where algae or some of its components are used as ingredients for their functional and/or nutraceutical properties. In this review, some nutritional and functional properties of some algae are mentioned, as well as research where foods added either with algae or some of their components have been developed.