**5. Conclusions**

In conclusion, seaweeds are very valuable food sources with reportedly high nutritional value and high in bioactive compounds. In this regard, brown macroalgae are particularly known to accumulate specific metabolites, such as the polysaccharides alginic acids, laminarans and fucoidans, the phenolic compounds phlorotannins, the carotenoid fucoxanthin and exceptionally high levels of iodine with simultaneous low Na/K ratios, which overall confer them great potential to be used as functional ingredients. Thus far, most of the recent studies' main objectives focusing on testing the incorporation of macroalgae in foods, namely those considered as safe for consumption in Europe i.e., *F. vesiculosus, F. serratus, H. elongata*, *U. pinnatifida*, *A. nodosum*, *L. digitata, L. saccharina, L. japonica* and *A. esculenta*, were the increment of the product's shelf-life and the sensory properties culminating in the potential commercialization. From an economic point of view, this is rather important, but in terms of the benefits they could bring to the consumer, there is a lot of work to be done. Therefore, in order to effectively exploit this very promising raw material, the focus should be on their bioavailability, especially in humans.

**Author Contributions:** N.C.A. contribution to writing the original draft. M.C. contribution to writing the original draft. A.M.S.S. contribution to writing—review. S.M.C. contribution to conceptualization, supervision, project managing and writing—review.

**Funding:** Project CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-023780 HEPA: Healthier eating of pasta with algae co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the partnership agreement Portugal2020–Regional Operation Program CENTRO2020. Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the European Union, the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), and Operational Programme Competitiveness Factors (COMPETE), for funding the Organic Chemistry Research Unit (QOPNA) (FCT UID/QUI/00062/2019). Project AgroForWealth (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000001), funded by Centro2020, through FEDER and PT2020, and financed the research contract of Susana M. Cardoso. Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) funded the PhD grant of Marcelo D. Catarino (PD/BD/114577/2016).

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
