Functional and Nutraceutical Ingredients From Marine Resources

Abstract

Marine environment harbors a plethora of bioactive components having huge functional and nutraceutical potential. Several bioactive ingredients from marine ecosystem have already entered beverage market as functional and medicinal supplements. These are primarily, fish oil, proteins and peptides, chitins, pigments, taurine, squalene, proteoglycans, polyphenols, probiotics, polysaccharides, vitamins, and minerals. These bioactive molecules provide innumerable health benefits, including antioxidant, antiarthritic, antihypertensive, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic, antiobese, and antiinflammatory activities. Apart from the main-stream capture resource, the huge quantities of process discards generated at seafood processing industries capitulate a number of recoverable functional and nutraceutical compounds. In this chapter, a comprehensive note on the major bioactives is provided covering a discussion on their general characteristics, potential sources, and nutraceutical and functional properties with emphasis on their use as potential ingredients in beverage formulations.