**Preface to "Nutra-Cosmeceuticals from Algae for Health and Wellness"**

The increase in the life expectancy of the population has led to growing interest, that of both consumers and public administrations, in health and well-being through physical activity, a balanced diet, and the use of functional foods and nutraceuticals. Well-being activities also include care in thermal centers and wellness centers in general.

The Global Wellness Institute (GWS) defines wellness as "the active search of activities, options and lifestyles that lead to a holistic state of health". Accordingly, wellness is not a passive state, but instead, an "active exercise", associated with intentions, options encountered, and actions taken as people work towards an optimum state of health and wellness. Wellness is related to holistic health, which has many different dimensions (physical, mental, environmental, spiritual, emotional, and social) that should work together in harmony. Within the context of an integrative and holistic wellness, nutrition is one of the pillars of well-being, and algae and microalgae contribute to this objective; although, this should not only be seen from the point of view of food consumed, but also should also encompass preventive treatments through water and its derivatives, such as peloids and marine muds (thermal spa centers and thalassotherapy centers), and the activities that take place around them.

Algae and microalgae have been consumed for centuries by different cultures and along coasts and lakes worldwide. Their nutritional importance lies not only in the macronutrients (proteins, soluble and insoluble carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fatty acids) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) they contain, but also in a variety of different compounds, such as fucoidans, carotenoids, polyphenols, and phlorotannins—some of which are exclusively found in these organisms. Edible algae are included in the diet in different forms (salads, soups, stews, as condiments, etc.), but are also increasingly included—the algae as a whole or some of its phytochemicals—in nutritional supplements and nutraceuticals with different purposes; these include the prevention of cardiovascular disorders, the regulation of glucose levels, as modulators of the immune response, and as antioxidants, among other purposes. Likewise, algae and microalgae have become an important source of active ingredients for cosmetics and dermocosmetics because they are an abundant resource and, in the case of microalgae, they are easy to cultivate.

Within this abundant context, this Special Issue presents the nutritional and bio-functional contributions of microalgal and macroalgal compounds to human health and wellness.

> **Mar´ıa Lourdes Mourelle, Herminia Dom´ınguez, Jose Luis Legido** *Editors*

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