Ampofo Josephine, Abbey Lord
Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Department of Plant, Food and Environmental Sciences, Dalhousie University, 50 Pictou Road, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, Canada.
Foods. 2022 Jun 14;11(12):1744. doi: 10.3390/foods11121744.
Global population is estimated to reach about 9.22 billion by 2075. The increasing knowledge on the relationship between food biochemistry and positive health gives an indication of the urgency to exploit food resources that are not only sustainable but also impact human health beyond basic nutrition. A typical example of such novel food is microalgae, an aquatic microorganism with a plethora of diverse bioactive compounds including phenolics, carotenoids, vitamin B and peptides. Microalgal bioactive compounds have been shown to possess positive health effects such as antihypertensive, anti-obesity, antioxidative, anticancer and cardiovascular protection. Although, the utilization of microalgal biomass by the functional food industry has faced lots of challenges because of species diversity and variations in biomass and cultivation factors. Other documented challenges were ascribed to changes in functional structures during extraction and purification due to inefficient bio-processing techniques, inconclusive literature information on the bioavailability and safety of the microalgal bioactive compounds and the fishy odor and taste when applied in food formulations. In spite of these challenges, great opportunities exist to exploit their utilization for the development of functional foods. Microalgae are a renewable resource and have fast growth rate. Therefore, detailed research is needed to bridge these challenges to pave way for large-scale commercialization of microalgal-based healthy foods. The focus of this review is to discuss the potential of microalgae as natural ingredients for functional food development, factors limiting their acceptance and utilization in the food industry as well as their safety concerns with respect to human consumption.
预计到2075年全球人口将达到约92.2亿。人们对食物生物化学与健康之间关系的认识不断增加，这表明迫切需要开发不仅可持续而且能在基本营养之外对人类健康产生影响的食物资源。这类新型食物的一个典型例子是微藻，它是一种水生微生物，含有大量不同的生物活性化合物，包括酚类、类胡萝卜素、维生素B和肽。微藻生物活性化合物已被证明具有积极的健康影响，如降血压、抗肥胖、抗氧化、抗癌和心血管保护作用。然而，由于物种多样性以及生物量和培养因素的差异，功能性食品行业在利用微藻生物质方面面临诸多挑战。其他已记录的挑战归因于生物加工技术效率低下，导致提取和纯化过程中功能结构发生变化；关于微藻生物活性化合物的生物利用度和安全性的文献信息不明确；以及将其应用于食品配方时会产生腥味和异味。尽管存在这些挑战，但利用微藻开发功能性食品仍有巨大的机会。微藻是一种可再生资源，生长速度快。因此，需要进行详细研究以克服这些挑战，为基于微藻的健康食品大规模商业化铺平道路。本综述的重点是讨论微藻作为功能性食品开发天然成分的潜力、限制其在食品工业中接受和利用的因素以及与人类消费相关的安全问题。
