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Macromolecular Antioxidants and Dietary Fiber in Edible Seaweeds
Author(s) -
SanzPintos Nerea,
PérezJiménez Jara,
Buschmann Alejandro H.,
VergaraSalinas José Rodrigo,
PérezCorrea José Ricardo,
SauraCalixto Fulgencio
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/1750-3841.13592
Subject(s) - polyphenol , food science , flavonols , antioxidant , chemistry , dietary fiber , macromolecule , nutraceutical , algae , botany , biochemistry , biology
Seaweeds are rich in different bioactive compounds with potential uses in drugs, cosmetics and the food industry. The objective of this study was to analyze macromolecular antioxidants or nonextractable polyphenols, in several edible seaweed species collected in Chile ( Gracilaria chilensis , Callophyllis concepcionensis , Macrocystis pyrifera , Scytosyphon lomentaria , Ulva sp. and Enteromorpha compressa ), including their 1st HPLC characterization. Macromolecular antioxidants are commonly ignored in studies of bioactive compounds. They are associated with insoluble dietary fiber and exhibit significant biological activity, with specific features that are different from those of both dietary fiber and extractable polyphenols. We also evaluated extractable polyphenols and dietary fiber, given their relationship with macromolecular antioxidants. Our results show that macromolecular antioxidants are a major polyphenol fraction (averaging 42% to total polyphenol content), with hydroxycinnamic acids, hydroxybenzoic acids and flavonols being the main constituents. This fraction also showed remarkable antioxidant capacity, as determined by 2 complementary assays. The dietary fiber content was over 50% of dry weight, with some samples exhibiting the target proportionality between soluble and insoluble dietary fiber for adequate nutrition. Overall, our data show that seaweed could be an important source of commonly ignored macromolecular antioxidants.