*3.4. Ascophyllum Nodosum*

Although *A. nodosum* has not been much studied as a functional ingredient for incorporation in foods, some authors have reported promising results in this field (Table 4). For instance, Dierick et al. [110] found that, feeding pigs with 20 g of *A. nodosum*/kg of feed over 21 days caused the levels of iodine in muscle and internal organs to increase 2.7 and 6.8 times, respectively, compared to the pigs fed under a regular diet. This could be a viable approach to increase the daily intake of this mineral which is usually deficient in several European countries [4]. Alternatively, *A. nodosum* extracts applied to low-fat pork liver pâtés (500 mg/kg) was described to increase the protein content by approximately 4% compared to the control samples, without interfering with the chemical composition or microbial characteristics of the samples, throughout 180 days of storage at 4 ◦C. Furthermore, at the end of the experiment, the oxidative parameters on seaweed-added samples were comparable to those of BHT-added samples, both showing a similar degree of protection against oxidation as well as a significant reduction of volatile compounds after storage [83].


**Table 4.** Selected studies reporting the effects of the incorporation of *A. nodosum* or isolates as ingredients in different food matrices.

↑: increased; ↓: decreased; BHT: butylated hydroxytoluene; EtOH: ethanol; TBARS: thiobarbituric acid reactive substances.

On another perspective, *A. nodosum* extracts have proven to be effective in the inhibition of lipid oxidation and the improvement of antioxidant activity in dairies. Indeed, the incorporation of either aqueous or 80% ethanol extracts (0.25% and 0.5%) of this species in milk significantly decreased the TBARS formation and increased the radical scavenging and ferrous-ion-chelating activities either before or after in vitro digestion. However, this did not affect the cellular antioxidant activity or protect against DNA damage in human colon adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cells, suggesting that the fortification with *A. nodosum* extracts could improve certain milk qualities and shelf-life characteristics, but not provide significant biological activity. Interestingly, despite fortified-milk with aqueous extract had good acceptability in the sensory analysis, those formulated with 80% ethanol extract was pointed to have a fishy taste and off flavour, thus having low acceptability by the panellists. Nevertheless, this issue could potentially be addressed by using food flavourings or through micro-encapsulation to camouflage the undesirable flavours [84]. A new set of studies on fortified yogurts with the same *A. nodosum* extracts also revealed the increment of the radical scavenging activity before and after in vitro digestion, which was shown not to affect parameters, such as the product's acidity, microbiology or whey separation. However, as previously stated, the biological activity on cellular models was absent and the sensorial analysis was positive for *A. nodosum* aqueous extracts but not for the 80% ethanol extracts [85]. On another approach, Hall et al. [111] reported that the addition of *A. nodosum* (1–4%) in bread significantly reduced the energy intake after a test meal in a single blind cross trial. Moreover, the same was verified after 24 h of seaweed-enriched bread consumption and no differences were observed in blood glucose and cholesterol levels. The authors highlighted, however, the need of a long-term interventional study to establish the real potential of *A. nodosum*-enriched bread energy intake, in addition to the metabolism of glucose and lipids.
