Composition, functionality and potential applications of seaweed lipids

摘要: Seaweeds are a group of macroscopic marine algae that form the basic biomass in the intertidal zone. Some authors even brand seaweeds as sea vegetables (Wong and Cheung, 2000). They form a part of the staple diet in the Far East and Hawaiian Islands, Japan, Korea and China, apart from being used as delicacies in some of the western world where they are principally used as sources of phycocolloids, thickening and gelling agents for various industrial applications including foods. Seaweeds have been used since ancient times as food, fodder fertilizer, and as sources of medicinal drugs. Today seaweeds are the raw material for industrial production of agar, carrageenan, and alginates, but they continue to be widely consumed as food in Asian countries. They are nutritionally valuable, in fresh and dried forms, as ingredients in a wide variety of prepared foods (Wong and Cheung, 2000). With high essential …