Algae: A Super Future Food For Sustainable Nutrition

Microalgae: That speculative future meal might not sound very appealing, but microalgae are packed with proteins, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals-including vitamins A, B1, B2, C, and E, iron, calcium and folic acid.

- Jyoti Rawat

Indeed, algae has the potential to become a super food for sustainable nutrition for future. Algae (microalgae and macroalgae) is a promising and reliable source of bioactive compounds like protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals with potential benefits for human health. Thus, they could significantly help to sustainably meet the populations specifically with regard to protein needs. Bioactive compounds extracted from microalgae have great anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, which are scanty in other foodstuffs. Numerous studies have examined the use of algal biomass to raise the protein content of different foods, such as cookies, bread, snacks, yoghurt, dairy products soups etc. The positive part of algae is, we can easily grow algae on non-arable land and it can produce protein up to 20 times that of other plants rich in protein.

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