Seaweed and human health

Abstract

Seaweeds may have an important role in modulating chronic disease. Rich in unique bioactive compounds not present in terrestrial food sources, including different proteins (lectins, phycobiliproteins, peptides, and amino acids), polyphenols, and polysaccharides, seaweeds are a novel source of compounds with potential to be exploited in human health applications. Purported benefits include antiviral, anticancer, and anticoagulant properties as well as the ability to modulate gut health and risk factors for obesity and diabetes. Though the majority of studies have been performed in cell and animal models, there is evidence of the beneficial effect of seaweed and seaweed components on markers of human health and disease status. This review is the first to critically evaluate these human studies, aiming to draw attention to gaps in current knowledge, which will aid the planning and implementation of future studies.

Selecting Australian marine macroalgae based on the fatty acid composition and anti-inflammatory activity

“…Marine algae are well known as rich sources of unique, structurally diverse, biologically active natural products with a range of reported activities including anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and immunomodulating activities (Gupta and Abu-Ghannam 2011;Brown et al 2014;Mohamed et al 2012). In particular, a number of promising anticancer compounds have been isolated from algae including the anti-mitotic stypoldione from the brown alga Stypodium zonale and the cytotoxic dehydrothysiferol from the red alga Laurencia viridis (Brown et al 2014). Thus, further investigation to identify the active component of the selectively cytotoxic extracts is needed.…”

Seaweed aquaculture in Norway: recent industrial developments and future perspectives

“…Moreover, seaweeds contain a large variety of phytochemical constituents that can be used in the prevention and treatment of health diseases by various mechanisms (Holdt and Kraan 2011;Brown et al 2014). Bioactive compounds of interest include polysaccharides (e.g.…”

The effect of consuming Palmaria palmata-enriched bread on inflammatory markers, antioxidant status, lipid profile and thyroid function in a randomised placebo-controlled intervention trial in healthy adults

“…Most notably, the putative health-promoting properties of seaweed have been attributed to the presence of fibre, bioactive lipids, trace elements and a diverse range of phenol-based compounds [5]. Previous experimental studies with macroalgae extracts or constituents have reported potent anti-inflammatory [6,7] and antioxidant activity [8], but few studies have been carried out to investigate these effects in humans [9]. While consumption of whole seaweed from the Pyropia genus is common in Asia, Western societies (e.g.…”