Affiliations 

  • 1 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
MyJurnal

Abstract

Seaweed contains various nutrients that has the potential to be a source of nutritious food, but only a few studies done on
the red seaweeds in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the macronutrients content, amino acid
profile and fatty acid component in Kappaphycus alvarezii and Kappaphycus striatum. The study found that the range
of moisture, fat, ash, protein, fiber and carbohydrates content for both red seaweeds were 6.9% - 7.3%, 0.5% - 2.6%,
29.4% - 30.9%, 2.5% - 5.7% , 5.3% - 5.5% and 50.1% - 53.3% respectively. A total of 16 amino acids were identified
in which the essential amino acid for K. alvarezii and K. striatum were 41.11% and 36.15% respectively. A total of 34
fatty acids were identified in which the content of saturated fatty acids (SFA) was the highest (42.7% - 72.8%), followed
by mono-unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) (13.8% - 36.2%) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was the lowest (13.5%
- 21.2%). In conclusion, this study suggest that K. alvarezii and K. striatum are potentially be used as raw materials or
food ingredients to improve the nutritional value of the human diet.