Nutritional and bioactive compounds of commercialized algae powders used as food supplements

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. The main nutritional/bioactive compounds (protein; aminoacids, AA; fucose; minerals; vitamins B12 and C; and total phenolic content, TPC) of nine commercial algae powders, used as food supplements, were studied. Undaria pinnatifida showed the highest protein/aminoacid contents (51.6/54.4 g 100 g¿1). Among brown macroalgae, Himanthalia elongata showed the highest fucose content (26.3 g kg¿1) followed by Laminaria ochroleuca (22.5 g kg¿1). Mineral contents of 15¿24% were observed in the algae, being particularly excellent sources of iodine (69.0¿472.0 mg kg¿1). Porphyra spp. and Palmaria palmata showed the highest vitamin B12 contents (667¿674 µg kg¿1). Vitamin C ranged among 490.4¿711.8 mg kg¿1. H. elongata showed the highest total phenolic content (14.0 g kg¿1). In conclusion, the studied algae are excellent sources of protein, AA, minerals, vitamin C and some of them presented particularly high vitamin B12 and fucose contents, which may have a potential use as food supplements.