Abstract
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−1 seaweed in dry weight with a 90th percentile of 2.06 mg g−1 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.
Highlights
Humans are unable to synthesize vitamin C.Humans rely on an adequate supply of vitamin C from their diet and it is considered an essential micronutrient [1]
The vitamin C content is given in mg g−1 dw
Rosehip has a high vitamin C content compared to other foods, and to meet the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI), less than 6 g of rosehip is needed, whereas for seaweed about 400 g is needed based on wet weight
Summary
Humans are unable to synthesize vitamin C (chemically: ascorbic acid, ascorbate). Humans rely on an adequate supply of vitamin C from their diet and it is considered an essential micronutrient [1]. The Institute for Medicine (2000) describes that smokers dispose of lower vitamin C, even when on a vitamin C rich diet, it is recommended in the United States that the RDA for smokers is increased by 35 mg day−1 [6,8]. Several peer-reviewed papers state that seaweeds are a rich source for vitamin C [4,10,14,15,16] and vitamin C content has been analyzed for various species. A method to establish whether seaweed does contain high contents of vitamin C is to compare the content to the dietary reference intakes such as RNI and other food sources. Concluding whether seaweed can contribute as a vitamin C source at all or is a rich source of vitamin C compared to other foods
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