Vitamins, minerals and heavy metals profiling of seaweeds from Mauritius and Rodrigues for food security
2023
Bekah, Devesh | Thakoor, Asho D. | Ramanjooloo, Avin | Phul, Itisha Chummun | Botte, Sabine | Roy, Prerna | Oogarah, Preeti | Curpen, Sarvanen | Goonoo, Nowsheen | Bolton, John | Bhaw-Luximon, Archana
Oceans cover more than 70 % the Earth’s surface and thus seaweeds and algae have the potential to become major sources of nutrients in the future for the expanding world population. The profiling of vitamins, minerals and heavy metals in aqueous green, red and brown seaweeds extracts from the Mascarene Islands Mauritius and Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean has been carried out for the first time. The vitamin concentrations were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the elemental compositions were measured via electron diffraction X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). In 100 g of dried seaweed, vitamins C, and pro-vitamin A were the most common components in the range of 10.9–434.6 mg, and 39.9–906.3 μg, respectively with the green seaweed Udotea argentea showing the highest content (FDA daily recommended intake: 900 μg retinol activity equivalents/day for vitamin A and 90 mg/day for vitamin C). EDX analysis showed the presence of Ca, Mg and S as the major mineral constituents. Silicon was also present in trace amounts in most seaweeds.
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