Rosemary, ThomasArulkumar, AbimannanParamasivam, SadayanMiranda López, José ManuelMondragón Portocarrero, Alicia del Carmen2020-04-072020-04-072019Rosemary, T.; Arulkumar, A.; Paramasivam, S.; Mondragon-Portocarrero, A.; Miranda, J.M. Biochemical, Micronutrient and Physicochemical Properties of the Dried Red Seaweeds Gracilaria edulis and Gracilaria corticata. Molecules 2019, 24, 2225http://hdl.handle.net/10347/21230The present study sought to evaluate the nutritional composition and physicochemical properties of two dried commercially interesting edible red seaweeds, Gracilaria corticata and G. edulis. Proximate composition of the dried seaweeds revealed a higher content in carbohydrates (8.30 g/100 g), total crude protein (22.84 g/100 g) and lipid content (7.07 g/100 g) in G. corticata than in G. edulis. Fatty acids profile showed that G. corticata samples contain higher concentrations of saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic and stearic acids, and polyunsaturated ones such as α-linolenic and docosahexaenoic acids. Contrariwise, G. edulis contained higher amounts of monounsaturated oleic acid. Total amino acid content was 76.60 mg/g in G. corticata and 65.42 mg/g in G. edulis, being the essential amino acid content higher in G. edulis (35.55 mg/g) than in G. corticata (22.76 mg/g). Chlorophyll a was found in significantly higher amounts in G. edulis (17.14 μg/g) than G. corticata, whereas carotenoid content was significantly higher in G. corticata (12.98 μg/g) than in G. edulis. With respect to physical properties, both water- and oil-holding capacities were similar in both seaweeds, whereas swelling capacity was higher in G. edulis. In view of the results, the present study suggests that G. corticata and G. edulis contains important nutrients for human health and are possible natural functional foods.eng© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Water holding capacitySeaweedsGracilariaCarbohydratesFatty acidsVitaminsjournal article10.3390/molecules241222251420-3049open access