Chapter 17
Biological Activities of Marine Products
and Nutritional Importance
Dilipkumar Pal and Khushboo Raj
Abstract Bioactive compounds, also known as phyto-nutrients are those compounds which enhance or we can say that promote good health. They are found in a
limited amount in plants, animals, marine, and other natural food sources which
help in the prevention of many diseases e.g. cancers, cardiac disorders, diabetes,
etc. It is well known to us that nearly half of the worldwide biodiversity is constituted by different types of marine species and as a result, oceans, sea are enriched
with valuable natural bioactive compounds such as proteins, peptides, amino acids,
fatty acids, sterols, oligosaccharides, vitamins, and minerals, etc. These agents also
help to enhance the nutritional as well as the therapeutic value of the food products.
Every year nearly thousands of new compounds are isolated from a marine
organism which further help in the discovery of new leads for the development of
new drugs to treat or diagnose human diseases like cancer, viral diseases, inflammation, etc. For example, thyrsiferol, which is isolated from marine red algae
(genus: Laurencia) on the experimental studies shows potent anti-viral and
anti-tumour activities. Another example is marine sponge (genus: Insignia) which is
a good source of terpenoids consisting of tetronic acids which act as antiinflammatory agent, analgesic, and antibiotics. There are numerous examples of
such marine products that are enriched with nutritional values and show many
potent biological activities. In this article, we are going to discuss different marine
products one by one with their biological and nutritional importances and also their
role in the development of new drugs in the treatment of various human diseases.
Keywords Bioactive compounds Á Cancers Á Cardiac disorders Á Diabetes Á
Marine organism Á Thyrsiferol Á Anti-viral
D. Pal (&) Á K. Raj
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Viswavidyalaya
(A Central University), Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 49551, India
e-mail: drdilip2003@yahoo.co.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_17
587
Biological Activities of Marine Products
and Nutritional Importance
Dilipkumar Pal and Khushboo Raj
Abstract Bioactive compounds, also known as phyto-nutrients are those compounds which enhance or we can say that promote good health. They are found in a
limited amount in plants, animals, marine, and other natural food sources which
help in the prevention of many diseases e.g. cancers, cardiac disorders, diabetes,
etc. It is well known to us that nearly half of the worldwide biodiversity is constituted by different types of marine species and as a result, oceans, sea are enriched
with valuable natural bioactive compounds such as proteins, peptides, amino acids,
fatty acids, sterols, oligosaccharides, vitamins, and minerals, etc. These agents also
help to enhance the nutritional as well as the therapeutic value of the food products.
Every year nearly thousands of new compounds are isolated from a marine
organism which further help in the discovery of new leads for the development of
new drugs to treat or diagnose human diseases like cancer, viral diseases, inflammation, etc. For example, thyrsiferol, which is isolated from marine red algae
(genus: Laurencia) on the experimental studies shows potent anti-viral and
anti-tumour activities. Another example is marine sponge (genus: Insignia) which is
a good source of terpenoids consisting of tetronic acids which act as antiinflammatory agent, analgesic, and antibiotics. There are numerous examples of
such marine products that are enriched with nutritional values and show many
potent biological activities. In this article, we are going to discuss different marine
products one by one with their biological and nutritional importances and also their
role in the development of new drugs in the treatment of various human diseases.
Keywords Bioactive compounds Á Cancers Á Cardiac disorders Á Diabetes Á
Marine organism Á Thyrsiferol Á Anti-viral
D. Pal (&) Á K. Raj
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Viswavidyalaya
(A Central University), Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh 49551, India
e-mail: drdilip2003@yahoo.co.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
D. Pal and A. K. Nayak (eds.), Bioactive Natural Products
for Pharmaceutical Applications, Advanced Structured Materials 140,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54027-2_17
587