Algae as Superfood

Abstract

With the increasing population, there are problems like the shrinking of arable land, pollution, and feeding the entire growing population high-quality food and reaching consumer demand, and the list goes on. Novel superfoods are rich in nutrition and produced with the most sustainable methods, including algae, specifically microalgae. Microalgae have been studied for decades. Microalgae are one of the largest and most poorly understood organisms on planet earth, but in recent years, the research has been increased for the search of renewable and sustainable energy sources. Microalgae don't require much land for cultivation and thus do not compete with conventional agricultural land. Microalgae can double their size in 24 hours. CO2, solar rays, inorganic nutrients, and water are the basic requirements for them to grow. There are microalgae and macroalgae (e.g., seaweed) that grow in saline and hypersaline water. This chapter presents the promising potential of algae (microalgae and macroalgae) as a superfood.