An emerging trend in functional foods for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and diabetes: Marine algal polyphenols

Abstract

Marine macroalgae are gaining recognition among the scientific community as a significant source of functional food ingredients. Due to the harsh environments in which macroalgae survive, they produce unique bioactive compounds that are not found in terrestrial plants. Polyphenols are the predominant bioactive compound in brown algae and are accountable for the majority of its biological activity. Phlorotannins are a type of polyphenol that are unique to marine sources and have exhibited protective effects against hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, inflammation and oxidative stress, known risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetic complications, in cell culture, animal studies and some human studies. This review updates the information on marine polyphenols, with a particular focus on phlorotannins and their potential health benefits in relation to the prevention and treatment of risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Nutraceutical Potential of Five Mexican Brown Seaweeds

“…e two algae extracts with the highest ORAC activities (S. compressa and E. arborea) were the richest in NFE and were among the richest in polyphenols, suggesting that in both seaweeds, carbohydrates and polyphenols were the main components working as antioxidants. e antioxidant effect of brown seaweed extracts rich in these two major polymeric fractions has been reported by numerous authors [24][25][26]34]. e correlation between these compounds and the antioxidant activity is strong for some extracts or inexistent for others.…”

“…Particularly, numerous brown seaweed crude extracts (acetonic, aqueous, methanolic, and ethanolic) have shown to possess antioxidant [15,16] and antidiabetic (e.g., α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition) activities [14,[17][18][19]. ese activities are related to the presence of phenolic compounds, phlorotannins, pigments, tocopherols, polysaccharides, fatty acids, and peptides in the seaweed extracts [15,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. e main compounds reported as potent α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitors are as follows: phloroglucinol derivatives such as dieckol, 8,8′-bieckol, phlorofucofuroeckol, fucophloroethol, and phlorotannins with low PGU [23,25,[29][30][31], fucoidan [3,32,33], and oleic, linoleic, and eicosapentaenoic acids [24].…”

Effect of simulated gastrointestinal digestion and fermentation on polyphenolic content and bioactivity of brown seaweed phlorotannin‐rich extracts

“…They are oligomers and polymers of phloroglucinol units, and their molecular weight can vary greatly, from 126 Da to 650 KDa . Phlorotannins are being increasingly investigated for their vast array of bioactivities such as antioxidant , anti‐inflammatory , antibacterial , anticancer , and antidiabetic , showing promising potential to develop seaweed‐derived products rich in bioactive components with commercial potential for food and pharma applications . However the gastrointestinal tract may largely impact the structure of phlorotannins during digestion and this can have an impact on their bioactivity .…”

“…Seaweeds have been traditionally consumed for centuries in coastal regions of Asian countries [1], and more recently European countries including Ireland have shown a renewed interest in seaweeds that were once a traditional part of the diet [2][3][4][5]. The gastronomic use of seaweeds has expanded antioxidant [23][24][25][26][27], anti-inflammatory [24,28,29], antibacterial [30], anticancer [31][32][33][34][35], and antidiabetic [31,36,37], showing promising potential to develop seaweed-derived products rich in bioactive components with commercial potential for food and pharma applications [38,39]. However the gastrointestinal tract may largely impact the structure of phlorotannins during digestion and this can have an impact on their bioactivity [40,41].…”

Voltammetric, spectroscopic, and cellular characterization of redox functionality of eckol and phlorofucofuroeckol‐A: A comparative study

“…In addition to terrestrial plants, brown algae are also rich in a number of antioxidants (Balboa, Conde, Moure, Falque, & Dominguez, ). Phlorotannins, the major polyphenol in algae, have been found to exhibit high in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activity (Liu, Yuan, Sharma‐Shivappa, & van Zanten, ; Murray, Dordevic, Ryan, & Bonham, ). Along with their wide spectrum of antioxidant activities, these compounds have been regarded as having protective effects to some extent against many disease, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, aging, and other oxidative stress‐related diseases (Kim, Lee, Ku, & Bae, ; Lee & Jeon, ; Murray, Dordevic, Bonham, & Ryan, ).…”