Preparation of Cookies with Various Native Seaweeds Found on the Korean Coast

Recent developments and challenges in algal protein and peptide extraction strategies, functional and technological properties, bioaccessibility, and commercial applications

The burgeoning demand for protein, exacerbated by population growth and recent disruptions in the food supply chain, has prompted a rapid exploration of sustainable protein alternatives. Among these alternatives, algae stand out for their environmental benefits, rapid growth, and rich protein content. However, the widespread adoption of algae-derived proteins faces significant challenges. These include issues related to harvesting, safety, scalability, high cost, standardization, commercialization, and regulatory hurdles. Particularly daunting is the efficient extraction of algal proteins, as their resilient cell walls contain approximately 70% of the protein content, with conventional methods accessing only a fraction of this. Overcoming this challenge necessitates the development of cost-effective, scalable, and environmentally friendly cell disruption techniques capable of breaking down these rigid cell walls, often laden with viscous polysaccharides. Various approaches, including physical, chemical, and enzymatic methods, offer potential solutions, albeit with varying efficacy depending on the specific algal strain and energy transfer efficiency. Moreover, there remains a pressing need for further research to elucidate the functional, technological, and bioaccessible properties of algal proteins and peptides, along with exploring their diverse commercial applications. Despite these obstacles, algae hold considerable promise as a sustainable protein source, offering a pathway to meet the escalating nutritional demands of a growing global population. This review highlights the nutritional, technological, and functional aspects of algal proteins and peptides while underscoring the challenges hindering their widespread adoption. It emphasizes the critical importance of establishing a sustainable trajectory for food production, with algae playing a pivotal role in this endeavor.

Brown algae and their multiple applications as functional ingredient in food production

Brown algae are considered one of the resources that can contribute to transforming our global food system by promoting healthier diets and reducing environmental impact. In this sense, this review article aims to provide up-to-date information on the nutritional and functional improvement of brown algae when they are applied to different food matrices. Brown algae present sulfated polysaccharides (alginates, fucoidans, and laminarins), proteins, minerals, vitamins, dietary fibers, fatty acids, pigments, and bioactive compounds that can positively contribute to the development of highly nutritious food products, as well as used reformulate products already existing, to remove, reduce, increase, add and/or replace different components and obtain products that confer health-promoting properties. This review demonstrates that there is a tendency to use seaweed for the production of functional foods and that the number of commercially produced products from seaweed is increasing, that is, seaweed is a sector whose global market is expanding.

Physicochemical and Nutritional Characteristics of Cookies Prepared with Untapped Seaweed Ulva intestinalis: An Approach to Value Addition as a Functional Food

The present study was investigated to know the sensory, physicochemical, nutritional and fatty acid properties of seaweed-based cookies prepared with untapped seaweed Ulva intestinalis (UI) from Bangladesh coast. The cookies were formulated with different percentages of UI inclusions both in powdered (PUI) and fragmented (FUI) forms, in order to evaluate different quality attributes in prepared value-added cookies. In sensory analysis, seaweed inclusion levels of 1% PUI, 2.5% PUI, 1% FUI, 2.5% FUI and 5% FUI to cookies were acceptable by panelists. Considering the maximum percentage of seaweed inclusions, 2.5% PUI and 5% FUI were selected for further analysis. The results of physicochemical properties such as moisture content, spread factor, baking loss, pH, cookie density, color, texture properties, volatile basic nitrogen and thiobarbituric acid reactive species were within acceptable limits. In nutritional analysis, 2.5% PUI and 5% FUI cookies showed a remarkable and significant increase in lipid and ash contents, compared to untreated controls. Being the first report on fatty acids profile by UI from Bangladesh, among 24 fatty acids identified, the amount of total saturated, mono-unsaturated, omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids were reported to be 641.9 (36.2%), 563.7 (31.8%), 133.8 (7.6%) and 436.3 (24.6%) μg/g DW, respectively. The results suggest that cookies with 2.5% PUI and 5% FUI can be marketed as healthy foods for consumers.

Algae as a Source of Natural Flavors in Innovative Foods

As a result of their nutritive values, algae have been used as a food resource for centuries, and there is a growing interest to use them as enrichment ingredients in food products. However, food product acceptance by consumers is strongly linked to their organoleptic properties, especially the aroma, taste, and a combination of the two, flavor. With regard to edible algae, "fresh seashore", "seafood-like", "cucumber green", and "earthy" are descriptors commonly used to define their aromas. Several families of molecules participate in the diversity and peculiarities of algal aromas: pungent sulfur compounds and marine halogenated components but also herbaceous fatty acid derivatives and fruity-floral terpenoids. In both macroalgae (seaweeds) and microalgae, these compounds are studied from a chemistry point of view (identification and quantification) and a sensorial point of view, involving sensorial evaluation by panelists. As a whole food, a food ingredient, or a feed, algae are valued for their nutritional composition and their health benefits. However, because the acceptance of food by consumers is so strongly linked to its sensorial features, studies have been performed to explore the aromas of algae, their impact on food, their evolution through processing, and their ability to produce selected aromas using biotechnology. This review aims at highlighting algal aromas from seaweed and microalgae as well as their use, their handling, and their processing in the food industry.

Seaweed as a Source of Natural Antioxidants: Therapeutic Activity and Food Applications

Seaweed is a valuable source of bioactive compounds, polysaccharides, antioxidants, minerals, and essential nutrients such as fatty acids, amino acids, and vitamins that could be used as a functional ingredient. The variation in the composition of biologically active compounds in seaweeds depends on the environmental growth factors that make seaweed of the same species compositionally different across the globe. Nevertheless, all seaweeds exhibit extraordinary antioxidant potential which can be harnessed for a broad variety of food applications such as in preparation of soups, pasta, salads, noodles, and other country specific dishes. This review highlights the nutritional and bioactive compounds occurring in different classes of seaweeds while focusing on their therapeutic activities including but not limited to blood cell aggregation, antiviral, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. The review also explores the existing and potential application of seaweeds as a source of natural antioxidant in food products. Seaweed-derived compounds have great potential for being used as a supplement in functional foods due to their high stability as well as consumer demand for antioxidant-rich foods.