Table 1.

Main biological properties and industrial applications of seaweed’s bioactive compounds.

Class of Seaweed Bioactive Compounds		Application and Properties	Principal Source	Reference
Polysaccharides	Alginate	Used as stabilizer and thickening agent in food products and medicine	Brown seaweed (Laminaria sp., Ascophyllum nodosum)	[71,73,74]
	Fucoidan	Antiproliferative, Antimicrobial and Antiviral activity Anticoagulant activity Antidiabetic activity	Brown seaweed (Undaria pinnatifida, Fucus sp.)	[105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114]
	Laminarin	Used in food industry and biomedicine because of its nutraceutical properties; immunostimulatory, antitumour and antioxidant activity	Brown seaweed (Laminaria sp.)	[75,76,77,115]
	Agar	Used in food products and pharmaceutical field as jellifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and emulsifiers	Red seaweed (Gracilaria sp.)	[116,117,118,119,120]
	Carrageenan		Red seaweed (Gigartina sp., Chondrus sp.)	[116,117,121,122,123]
	Porphyran	Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antihyperlipidemic and anticancer activities	Red seaweed (Porphyra sp.)	[59,60,61]
	Ulvan	Immunostimulatory, antitumoural, antiviral activities	Green seaweed (Ulva sp.)	[62,79,80,81,124]
Polyphenols	Phlorotannin	antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic properties	Brown seaweed (Ecklonia sp., Eisenia sp., Laminaria sp., Undaria pinnafitida)	[86,87,88,90,91,125]