An Assessment of Selected Nutritional, Bioactive, Thermal and Technological Properties of Brown and Red Irish Seaweed Species

Abstract

Irish edible brown (Himanthalia elongata—sea spaghetti, Alaria esculenta—Irish wakame) and red seaweeds (Palmaria palmata—dulse, Porphyra umbilicalis—nori) were assessed for nutritional (proximate composition; salt; pH; amino acid; mineral and dietary fibre contents); bioactive (total phenolic content (TPC) and in vitro antioxidant activity (DPPH and FRAP)); thermal (thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)); and technological (water holding capacity (WHC), oil holding capacity (OHC) and swelling capacity (SC)) properties. Red seaweeds had higher (p p p Irish wakame > dulse (p p p < 0.05) OHC than the brown seaweeds. Results demonstrate the potential of seaweeds as functional food product ingredients.

Keywords

• seaweeds
• functional ingredient
• nutritional composition
• dietary fibre
• antioxidant capacity