The DOI matches its Crossref record; 254 of the 254 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Risks and benefits of consuming edible seaweeds
Open accessAbstract
Recent interest in seaweeds as a source of macronutrients, micronutrients, and bioactive components has highlighted prospective applications within the functional food and nutraceutical industries, with impetus toward the alleviation of risk factors associated with noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This narrative review summarizes the nutritional composition of edible seaweeds; evaluates the evidence regarding the health benefits of whole seaweeds, extracted bioactive components, and seaweed-based food products in humans; and assesses the potential adverse effects of edible seaweeds, including those related to ingestion of excess iodine and arsenic. If the potential functional food and nutraceutical applications of seaweeds are to be realized, more evidence from human intervention studies is needed to evaluate the nutritional benefits of seaweeds and the efficacy of their purported bioactive components. Mechanistic evidence, in particular, is imperative to substantiate health claims.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Mitigation strategies increasingly emphasize improved coastal monitoring, avoidance of harvesting from contaminated waters, and the adoption of post-harvest treatments such as boiling and soaking, which can reduce certain metal concentrations [237].”
From Navigating the potential of algal peptides: health effects, market applications, and scientific challenges (2026) · cites this paper as [237]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Gibson, G. R., Hutkins, R., Sanders, M. E., Prescott, S. L., Reimer, R. A., Salminen, S. J., Scott, K., Stanton, C., Swanson, K. S., Cani, P. D., et al. (2017) · Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology · doi:10.1038/nrgastro.2017.75 · Cited by 5,634
Bioactive compounds in seaweed: functional food applications and legislation
Holdt, S. L., & Kraan, S. (2011) · Journal of Applied Phycology · doi:10.1007/s10811-010-9632-5 · Cited by 2,135
Fucoidan: Structure and bioactivity
Li, B., Lu, F., Wei, X., & Zhao, R. (2008) · Molecules · doi:10.3390/molecules13081671 · Cited by 1,383
EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, N. (2010) · EFSA Journal · doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1461 · Cited by 1,353
Algal Proteins: Extraction, Application, and Challenges Concerning Production
Bleakley, S., & Hayes, M. (2017) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods6050033 · Cited by 1,092
Structure and Functional Properties of Ulvan, a Polysaccharide from Green Seaweeds
Lahaye, M., & Robic, A. (2007) · Biomacromolecules · doi:10.1021/bm061185q · Cited by 1,024
Nutritional Value of Edible Seaweeds
MacArtain, P., Gill, C. I. R., Brooks, M., Campbell, R., & Rowland, I. R. (2008) · Nutrition Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2007.tb00278.x · Cited by 976
Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre
EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, N. (2010) · EFSA Journal · doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1462 · Cited by 955
Carotenoids in Algae: Distributions, Biosyntheses and Functions
Takaichi, S. (2011) · Marine Drugs · doi:10.3390/md9061101 · Cited by 839
Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for protein
EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, N. A. A. (. (2012) · EFSA Journal · doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2557 · Cited by 739
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Kokilam, 2014, Biochemical and phytochemical analysis on Ulva fasciata and Caulerpa taxifolia, Int J Pharm Sci Res, 4, 7
- Probst, 2015, Sustainable Safe, and Nutritious Food: New Nutrient Sources
- EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies, 2010, Scientific opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to dietary fibre pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, EFSA J, 8
- Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 2016, Science Review of Isolated and Synthetic Non-Digestible Carbohydrates
- EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food, 2016, Scientific opinion on the re-evaluation of agar (E 406) as a food additive, EFSA J, 14
- 2016, Assessment of dietary sodium for adults (19 to 64 years) in Northern Ireland.
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand, 2016, Imported Food Risk Statement: Hijiki Seaweed and Inorganic Arsenic
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Bioactive Polysaccharides from Seaweeds
Hentati, F., Tounsi, L., Djomdi, D., Pierre, G., Delattre, C., Ursu, A. V., Fendri, I., Abdelkafi, S., & Michaud, P. (2020) · Molecules · doi:10.3390/molecules25143152 · Cited by 254
Algae as Food in Europe: An Overview of Species Diversity and Their Application
Mendes, M., Navalho, S., Ferreira, A., Paulino, C., Figueiredo, D., Silva, D., Gao, F., Gama, F., Bombo, G., Jacinto, R., et al. (2022) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods11131871 · Cited by 234
Evaluation and Characterization of Alginate Extracted from Brown Seaweed Collected in the Red Sea
Rashedy, S. H., Abd El Hafez, M. S. M., Dar, M. A., Cotas, J., & Pereira, L. (2021) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app11146290 · Cited by 135
Heavy metals and potential risks in edible seaweed on the market in Italy
Filippini, M., Baldisserotto, A., Menotta, S., Fedrizzi, G., Rubini, S., Gigliotti, D., Valpiani, G., Buzzi, R., Manfredini, S., & Vertuani, S. (2021) · Chemosphere · doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.127983 · Cited by 122
Karabulut, G., Purkiewicz, A., & Goksen, G. (2024) · Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety · doi:10.1111/1541-4337.13372 · Cited by 85
Alternative dietary protein sources to support healthy and active skeletal muscle aging
van der Heijden, I., Monteyne, A. J., Stephens, F. B., & Wall, B. T. (2023) · Nutrition Reviews · doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuac049 · Cited by 45
The Potential of Algae in the Nutricosmetic Sector
Dini, I. (2023) · Molecules · doi:10.3390/molecules28104032 · Cited by 41
Milinovic, J., Rodrigues, C., Diniz, M., & Noronha, J. P. (2021) · Algal Research · doi:10.1016/j.algal.2020.102149 · Cited by 34
Human Exposure to Iodine from the Consumption of Edible Seaweeds
González, A., Paz, S., Rubio, C., Gutiérrez, Á. J., & Hardisson, A. (2020) · Biological Trace Element Research · doi:10.1007/s12011-019-01996-w · Cited by 23
Khaliq, M., Noor, Z., Moazzam, M., Saeed, F., Tul-Zohra, K., Tariq, E., Muhammad Shahbaz, H., & Khaliq, K. (2026) · Annals of Medicine · doi:10.1080/07853890.2026.2637282 · Cited by 4
“Mitigation strategies increasingly emphasize improved coastal monitoring, avoidance of harvesting from contaminated waters, and the adoption of post-harvest treatments such as boiling and soaking, which can reduce certain metal concentrations [237].”
Metadata
- Authors
- Cherry, P., O’Hara, C., Magee, P. J., McSorley, E. M., & Allsopp, P. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Ulster (GB)
- Government of Ireland (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Allsopp, Philip J
- Venue
- Nutrition Reviews
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2019-03-06
- Volume
- 77
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 307-329
- ISSN
- 0029-6643 (ISSN-L)
- 1753-4887
- PMC
- PMC6551690
- OpenAlex
- W2921032626
- Cited by
- 440
- References
- 254
- Citations by year
- 2026: 56 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 66 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 46 · 2019: 7
- FWCI
- 2.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nutrition Reviews (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ulster University Research Portal (Ulster University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (13F511)
- Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Seaweed-derived Bioactive Compounds
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal plant biology
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Fatty Acid Research and Health
- Keywords
- edible seaweeds, nutritional composition, bioactive compounds, functional foods, nutraceuticals, non-communicable diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, iodine excess, arsenic, health claims, seaweed-based food products
- MeSH terms
- Diet, Humans, Nutritive Value, Plants, Edible, Seaweed, Risk Assessment, Dietary Supplements, Functional Food
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
