The medicinal and edible value of many algae has been affirmed. Various algae are widely used in chemical industry, food, medicine, feed and so on. Algae are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, with considerable nutritional value. Moreover, different algae also contain their own unique physiological active components, such as various polysaccharides.

 

The content of minerals in seaweed is high (8% ~ 40%), and it also contains a variety of minerals and trace elements necessary for human nutrition. The minerals not found in these edible terrestrial plants are related to the phylum, geographical location, season, environment and physiological differences of algae. It has long been reported that the content of each mineral is positively correlated with the marine survival time of algae. At the same time, it is also related to the processing and mineralization methods of algae.

Result analysis

 

A study on the determination of Ca, Mg, Fe, K, Zn, Mn and Cu in 8 kinds of seaweed plants shows that the contents of Ca, Mg, Fe and K are in the order of 10-1-102 mg · g-1, and the contents of Zn, Mn and Cu are in the order of 10-3-10-1 mg · g-1. Among them, the content of Ca is the most abundant and the content of copper is the least. The results show that algae are rich in calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, manganese, copper and zinc.

It can be seen from the above table that the content of metal elements in 8 kinds of algae is ca > k > mg > Fe > m, n > Zn > Cu except leafy algae. And Zn / Cu > 1. The contents of Zn, Mn, Cu and Ca in leafy algae were the highest among the eight algae.