In India, seaweed aquaculture has the potential to address challenges related to nutrition, health and sustainable circular bio-economy. Elaborate (200 Words)
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KEY POINTS
Nutrition and Health
· Seaweed is rich in several important nutrients that help facilitate many biological functions within the body.
· The proteins in seaweed have the ability to take part in cell-to-cell communication, recognizing metastatic (cancer) cells, and can have an anti-inflammatory effect.
· Other proteins have an antiviral, anti-tumor, and anti-atherosclerosis, effect.
· Seaweed contains phytochemicals-compounds that possess strong antioxidant properties-working against oxidative stress in the body.
· Presence of high concentration of minerals, especially sodium and iodine, but also calcium, magnesium and iron, help reduce hunger.
· Seaweed is one of the best natural sources of bioavailable vitamins and minerals such as iodine, calcium, magnesium, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, and B12.
· Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is an important vitamin in terms of cellular transport and utilization.
Sustainable Bio-economy
· Biodegradation of sea weeds results in methane which is economically important can be produced in large quantitities.
· Potential indicators of pollution in coastal ecosystem, particularly heavy medtal pollution due to their ability to bind and accumuklate metal strongly.
· Products like afar-agar and alginates, iodine which are commercial value are extreacted from sea weeds.