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Healthy living & lifestyle Catching on to algae
Seaweed is packed with nutrients and sustainable to produce, but can it catch on? Elly Earls speaks to Leonel Pereira, associate professor at the University of Coimbra, and Amy Williams and Stella Child from the Good Food Institute Europe, to learn about the nutritional benefi ts of this potential new superfood, how they and the wider scientifi c community are working to bring algae from the ocean to the dinner table and what barriers still stand in their way.
Portugal. But he won’t be there for a refreshing dip. He’ll be foraging for seaweed to complement his traditional Portuguese Sunday lunch. With an important disclaimer: “It’s risky to collect it yourself,” he warns. Pereira is an associate professor at the University of Coimbra who has been researching seaweed for almost two decades, and knows what he is looking for and what to avoid. For the uninitiated, he says, the correct way is to go to the store. The good news is that there are more and more options on the supermarket shelves, reflecting a growing awareness of the health benefits of seaweed. Pereira reels off a long list of Portuguese supermarkets now offering various seaweed-based products, and the trend is not limited to Portugal; similar patterns are emerging globally. In Europe more broadly, for example, data from Mintel’s Ingredientscape AI tool showed the use of seaweed in new food and drink product launches “steadily increased” across Europe between 2005 and 2023. Some scientists are now touting it as the next superfood.
O
n a Saturday morning, you might find Leonel Pereira on the shores of Figueira de Foz, a popular seaside destination in the centre of
“Seaweed has all the necessary nutrients for the human body: proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and more, with very low calories,” Pereira says. “It also contains fantastic omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. People who eat fish to obtain these nutrients can reduce their fish consumption by incorporating algae, which directly produces omega-3 and omega-6.” Amy Williams, nutrition lead at nonprofit think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe, is another advocate of algae. “It is an important source of long-chain omega-3 – because this is where fish get it from – as well as being a good source of protein that can be easily absorbed by the body.
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