Vitamin C from Seaweed: A Review Assessing Seaweed as Contributor to Daily Intake

oleh: Cecilie Wirenfeldt Nielsen, Turid Rustad, Susan Løvstad Holdt

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-01-01

Deskripsi

Seaweeds are indiscriminately said to contain significant amounts of vitamin C, but seaweeds are a diverse group, which may limit the ability to generalize. Several studies have been performed on vitamin C in seaweed, and this review covers these findings, and concludes on how much vitamin C is found in seaweeds. A systematic review of vitamin C in 92 seaweed species was conducted followed by analyzing the 132 data entries. The average vitamin C content was 0.773 mg g<sup>−1</sup> seaweed in dry weight with a 90th percentile of 2.06 mg g<sup>−1</sup> dry weight. The vitamin C content was evaluated based on taxonomical categories of green, brown and red seaweeds (Chlorophyta (phylum), Phaeophyceae (class), and Rhodophyta (phylum)), and no significant differences were found between them. The vitamin C content was compared to other food sources, and this showed that seaweeds can contribute to the daily vitamin C intake, but are not a rich source. Moreover, seasonal variations, analytical methods, and processing impacts were also evaluated.