Determination of Nutritional Composition of Potential Red Seaweed (Porphyra umbilicalis)

Abstract

Since ancient times, seaweeds are considered as a natural source nutrients and bioactive compounds. Scientist’s believe that, they can be used as a functional ingredient in many technological applications to obtain functional foods. In order to obtain more nutritional information of the locally available seaweed species- Porphyra umbilicalis, chemical composition, amino acid contents, as well as some physicochemical properties were measured in this investigation. It was discovered that the percentage of carbohydrate content was almost half of the total nutritional composition (49.32± 0.67%). 21.60±0.44% protein, 16.42±0.47% ash, 6.06±0.50% moisture and 5.44±0.01% crude fiber was found in the collected sample. Very low percentage of lipid content (0.50±0.25%) was found in the sample. Among the twelve amino acids, the highest values for amino acids were found for valine, threonine, isoleucine, and phenylalanine. The fatty acid profiles were dominated by the polyunsaturated fatty acids (55.96%) particularly following saturated fatty acids (34.75 %) and monounsaturated fatty acids (9.29%). A very low concentration of vitamin A and vitamin E was found from the collected samples. Higher amount of Na, K, Mg, Ca, content were found from 100g of seaweed sample compared to the concentration of Zn and Fe. The physicochemical properties of this seaweed namely the water holding and the swelling capacity were comparable to some commercial fibre rich products. This study suggested that the selected red seaweed could be potentially used as raw materials or ingredients to improve the nutritive value and texture of functional food and healthy products for human beings