Algae as nutritional and bioactive food ingredients

Humanity currently presents many challenges, among which e ffi cient food production is one of the greatest, which is why research is carried out to find unconventional protein sources. A potential alternative is algae (unicellular or multicellular), B t l & iacute; / Bi t h l g which generally develop in aquatic environments, whether in fresh or salt water, with the characteristic that they carry out photosynthesis. These organisms have various olors due to theipigments such as hlorophyll, phycocyanin, carotene, 245 Modelado d la biodegrada c i & oacute;n en bi rreacto r es de lodo de hidro c arburos to les del petr & oacute;l o fucoxanthin, among others. Although the consumption of algae is very old, special attention has currently been paid to p d ue o o their nutritional quality since they show a high concentration of minerals, vitamins and proteins with low caloric and lipid content, and have also shown antibacerial, antifungal, antiviral, ntioxidan, antihypertensive, immunomodulatory, anticancer, (Biodegrada t ion modeling of sudge biore a ctors of to t al petroleum hydrocarbons weathering in oil hepatoprotective, anticoagulant activiies, among others, which is why they are considered functional or nutraceuticals foods. and sedimen t s) Algae have been present in the cuisine of many cultures. New food products have also been developed where algae or some of its components are used as ingredients for their functional and / or nutraceutical properties. In this review, some nutritional and functional properties of some agae are mentioned, as well as research where foods added either with algae or some of their & aacute; l y i rr o components have been developed. 259 Crecimi