Carrageenan: Nutraceutical and functional food as future food

Abstract

Functional foods and nutraceuticals provide an opportunity to improve the human health, reduce health care costs and support economic development in rural communities. Global demand for macroalgal such as carrageenan is growing, and algae are increasingly being consumed for functional benefits beyond the traditional considerations of nutrition and health. Carrageenans are sulphated linear polysaccharides of D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-Dgalactose extracted from certain red seaweeds of the Rhodophyceae class. They have been extensively used of carrageenan in the functional food industry as thickening, gelling and protein-suspending agents. Among marine resources, marine algae are valuable sources of structurally diverse bioactive compounds. The cell walls of marine algae are rich in sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) such as carrageenans in red algae. Therefore, marine algae derived SPs have great potential for further development as products in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical. The beneficial biological activities of low molecular of carrageenan such as anticoagulant, antiviral, antioxidative, anticancer and immunomodulating activities. This paper presents an overview of potential health of benefits of κ-carrageenan derived from marine algae.