Health benefits of marine nutraceuticals

Marine nutraceutical might have a positive effect on human health as they can protect human body against damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS), which attack macromolecules such as membrane lipids, proteins, and DNA and lead to many health disorders such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, neuro-degenerative and inflammatory diseases with severe injuries.

Recently, chito oligosaccharides (COS) have been the subject of increased attention in terms of their pharmaceutical and medicinal applications, due to their missing toxicity and high solubility, as well as their positive physiological effects such as antioxidant, ACE enzyme inhibition, antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic, hypocholesterolemic, hypoglycemic, anti-Alzheimer’s, anticoagulant properties, and adipogenesis inhibition.

Carotenoids are thought to be responsible for the beneficial properties in preventing human diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other chronic diseases. Moreover, marine derived sterols have received much attention in the last few years because of their cholesterol-lowering properties. Further, marine algal-derived SPs exhibited various health-beneficial biological activities such as anti-HIV 1, anticoagulant, immunomodulating, and anticancer activities.

Moreover, some bioactive peptides from marine organisms have been identified to possess nutraceutical potentials for human health promotion and disease risk reduction, and recently the possible roles of food-derived bioactive peptides in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases have been demonstrated. In addition, saringosterol, a derivative of fucosterol, discovered in several brown algae (Phaeophyceae), such as Lessonia nigrecens and Sargassum ringgoldianum, has been shown to inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

With so many new species of marine resources still to be discovered, the potential for new marine-derived bioactive nutraceuticals is immense with beneficial effects on human health, and the food industry is poised for accelerated development in the near future. Marine resources have been well recognized for their biologically active substances with a great potential to be used as nutraceuticals. Moreover, much attention has been paid recently by the consumers toward healthy lifestyle with natural bioactive ingredients. Recent studies have provided evidence that the marine-derived bioactive nutraceuticals play a vital role in human health.

We have this available on https://seatechbioproducts.com/marine-algae-micro-and-macro-seaweeds

Marine Nutraceuticals Prospects and Perspectives- Edited by Se-Kwon Kim (page 3-4)

Photo: http://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/13/10/6336