International Journal of Aquaculture, 2025, Vol.15, No.5, 248-254 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ija 248 Research Perspective Open Access Nutritional and Antioxidant Properties of Porphyra spp.: Implications for Human Health QiongWang1, Liting Wang2 1 Tropical Marine Fisheries Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China 2 Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China Corresponding author: liting.wang@hibio.org International Journal of Aquaculture, 2025, Vol.15, No.5 doi: 10.5376/ija.2025.15.0024 Received: 18 Aug., 2025 Accepted: 30 Sep., 2025 Published: 15 Oct., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Wang and Wang, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Wang Q., and Wang L.T., 2025, Nutritional and antioxidant properties of Porphyra spp.: implications for human health, International Journal of Aquaculture, 15(5): 248-254 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2025.15.0024) Abstract Porphyra spp. is a widely edible marine red algae that has attracted much attention for its rich nutritional value and significant antioxidant activity. This study systematically analyzes the nutritional composition, functional compounds and their antioxidant properties of seaweed, and explores the potential benefits of seaweed intake for human health. Seaweed has high protein content, complete types of essential amino acids and appropriate proportions; it is rich in carbohydrates and dietary fiber, and has significant vitamins and minerals. Seaweed is rich in functional ingredients such as polyphenols, carotenoids, phycobilidins and sulfate polysaccharides, making it have significant antioxidant activity and a variety of biological functions. Studies have shown that seaweed extract has the ability to scavenge free radicals and may play an active role in anti-inflammatory, immune regulation, cardiovascular health protection, as well as anti-tumor and anti-aging. This study sorts out the results of research on nutrition and function of seaweed in recent years and discusses future research and application directions. Keywords Seaweed; Nutritional components; Antioxidant; Functional compounds; Human health 1 Introduction Seaweed is a edible red algae that plays an important role in the food culture of coastal East Asia and is widely used in traditional cuisines in Japan, South Korea and China. In modern society, with people paying attention to healthy diets, seaweed has attracted global attention due to its high nutritional value and potential health benefits. Processed products of seaweed (such as roasted seaweed, ready-to-eat seaweed snacks, etc.) have gradually entered the markets of Western countries and are popular among consumers (Pandey et al., 2020). Global seaweed production has increased significantly in recent years, reflecting the importance of seaweed in the food supply and health industries (Silva-Obando et al., 2025). The genus Porphyra spp. belongs to the genus Porphyra spp., which includes Porphyra and Pyropia. Nori is a typical leaf-like red algae. Common edible species include Porphyra yezoensis and Pyropia haitanensis. These seaweed species are widely distributed in the intertidal zone. Traditional Porphyra genus is divided into several new genera, but people are usually still accustomed to collectively referring to it as "nori" or "nori" in English. Seaweed is shaped like a thin sheet, consisting of monolayers of cells, rich in a variety of nutrients and secondary metabolites, which lays the foundation for its nutritional and medicinal value (Geng et al., 2019). In order to explore the mechanism of action of seaweed on human health, this study will systematically discuss the nutritional components, functional compounds, antioxidant properties and potential health benefits of seaweed, and compare the intake of seaweed in different regions through case analysis, and finally make a prospect for future research and application prospects. 2 Nutritional Components of Seaweed 2.1 Protein and essential amino acid content Seaweed is known for its high protein. The crude protein content of dried seaweed can usually reach 20%~30%, and the protein content of certain varieties even exceeds 35% during a specific growth period. Such protein levels
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