Abstract
Marine macroalgae are a suitable source of ingredients due to their huge diversity, availability and nutritional and chemical composition. Their high content in proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, but also in secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds, terpenoids or pigments, make them great candidates for industrial applications. The cosmetic industry is one of the biggest in the world and the search for new ingredients is constantly growing as the consumer trend now is going back to those traditional cosmetics with a more natural composition. Moreover, the concept of a circular economy is also gaining importance due to the unsustainable situation of the natural resources. Although macroalgae are already used in cosmetics, especially as thickening and gelling agents, they possess an unexplored potential, not only as excipients and additives but also as a source of new active ingredients. In this context, macroalgae are considered in many cases as resources still underexploited and they could even be obtained from the waste of other industrial sectors and be used for recovering active molecules. Therefore, the aim of this review is to compile information about the different macroalgae metabolites and their possible applications in the cosmetic industry, which could employ circular economy models.
Highlights
Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Analytical and Food Chemistry Department, Faculty of Food Science and Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolonia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
Fucosterol, a natural sterol compound isolated from marine brown macroalgae, have protective effects in human keratinocytes cells irradiated with UVB and reduces matrix metalloproteases (MMPs)
Macroalgae might entail a rich source of different metabolites, with easy accessibility for obtaining these molecules
Summary
Marine ecosystems possess a huge diversity of species. About 225,000 eukaryotic marine species have been taxonomically classified and validated but it has been estimated that this number can reach nearly 700,000. Invasive macroalgae species could be considered as residues as it is necessary to remove them from coastal systems and they do not have a specific use Species such as Sargassum spp. have been proposed as a source of bio-compounds with different applications [16,17]. The sea still is a partially undiscovered ecosystem and marine macroalgae have been presented as excellent sources of bioactive compounds allowing the use of macroalgae without any commercial value currently. They could be considered as an emerging sustainable use of natural resources [18]. Growing filled much research made, and with further applications yet to be discovered
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