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Review
. 2019 May;26(4):709-722.
doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2017.11.003. Epub 2017 Nov 3.

Microalgae metabolites: A rich source for food and medicine

Ramaraj Sathasivam  1 , Ramalingam Radhakrishnan  2 , Abeer Hashem  3 , Elsayed F Abd Allah  4
Affiliations
Review

Microalgae metabolites: A rich source for food and medicine

Ramaraj Sathasivam et al. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2019 May.

Abstract

Microalgae are one of the important components in food chains of aquatic ecosystems and have been used for human consumption as food and as medicines. The wide diversity of compounds synthesized from different metabolic pathways of fresh and marine water algae provide promising sources of fatty acids, steroids, carotenoids, polysaccharides, lectins, mycosporine-like amino acids, halogenated compounds, polyketides, toxins, agar agar, alginic acid and carrageenan. This review discusses microalgae used to produce biological substances and its economic importance in food science, the pharmaceutical industry and public health.

Keywords: Bioactive compounds; Food; Medicine; Microalgae.

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