Innovative Natural Functional Ingredients from Microalgae

Abstract

Nowadays, a wide variety of compounds such as polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), or phytosterols obtained, for example, from wine, fish byproducts, or plants are employed to prepare new functional foods. However, unexplored natural sources of bioactive ingredients are gaining much attention since they can lead to the discovery of new compounds or bioactivities. Microalgae have been proposed as an interesting, almost unlimited, natural source in the search for novel natural functional ingredients, and several works have shown the possibility to find bioactive compounds in these organisms. Some advantages can be associated with the study of microalgae such as their huge diversity, the possibility of being used as natural reactors at controlled conditions, and their ability to produce active secondary metabolites to defend themselves from adverse or extreme conditions. In this contribution, an exhaustive revision is presented involving the research for innovative functional food ingredients from microalgae. The most interesting results in this promising field are discussed including new species composition and bioactivity and new processing and extraction methods. Moreover, the future research trends are critically commented.

Spirulina as a functional ingredient in broiler chicken diets

“…Spirulina is high in unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in particular (25% -60% of the total fatty acids), such as oleic acid, linoleic acid, gamma-linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic (DHA) (Hue et al, 2002;Yukino et al, 2005;Habib et al, 2008). It has also been reported that the amino acid pattern of these microalgae could be comparable with or superior to that of other vegetable foods and feeds, and that they have a high nutrient digestibility (Spolaore et al, 2006;Plaza et al, 2009;Alvarenga et al, 2011). In addition, spirulina contains substances such as pigments (for example carotenoids such as β-carotene and zeaxanthin) (Maoka, 2011), phycobiliproteins (for example phycocyanin, which is unique in the cyanobacteria (Eriksen, 2008), vitamins (Becker, 1994), macro and micro mineral elements (Becker, 1994;Spolaore et al, 2006) and antioxidants (Christaki et al, 2013).…”

“…Such foods are named functional foods or nutraceuticals, a concept that was born in Japan early in 1980 (Plaza et al, 2009;Christaki et al, 2011;Borowitzka, 2013).…”

Hepatoprotective Impact of Chlorella vulgaris Powder on Deltamethrin Intoxicated Rats

“…Chlorella vulgaris is unicellular green algae, broadly used as a food supplement and it has high antioxidant and therapeutic uses such as lutein, α, β-carotene, ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol, which are active against free radicals and may be responsible for Chlorella functional activities [36,37]. Furthermore, α and β-carotene in C. vulgaris not only react with various ROS but also interfere with the processes of oxidation in the lipid and cellular compartment [38].…”

Review of twelve West Africa medicinal plants: Active phytochemical combinations in direct biochemically wound healing process

“…Wound healing: These last years, researchers speculate that the minerals, phycobiliproteins, vitamins, beta-carotene, fatty acids, polysaccharides, phenolic compounds and volatile compounds present in these microalgae may accelerate wound healing by acting as an antioxidant and scavenging destructive free radicals responsible for cell death (Qishen et al, 1988;Kim et al, 1998;Hirahashi et al, 2002;Reddy et al, 2003;Subhashini et al, 2004;Li et al, 2005;Patel et al, 2005;Singh et al, 2005;El-Baky et al, 2009;Plaza et al, 2009). These reports confirmed that some unidentified factors in the crude extract might have enhanced the healing process.…”