## 4 Conclusions  
The chemical composition of _C. reinhardtii_ was analysed and compared with _Spirulina_ and _Chlorella_ spp. Although both conventional food species, _Spirulina_ and _Chlorella_ spp., contained valuable nutrients, _C. reinhardtii_ outperformed them in several nutritional factors. Taking into consideration that different growing conditions might affect the composition of the three studied species, nonetheless, _C. reinhardtii_ surpassed both the reference species regarding the lipid content and the quality of its fatty acid \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Mineral** & _C. reinhardtii_ & _Chlorella_ & _Spirulina_ & **RNI M/F(mg/d)** & **\%RNI\({}^{*}\) M/F** \\ \hline Macro mg/g DW & & & & & \\ Na\({}^{+}\) & \(0.13\pm 0.00\) & \(0.95\pm 0.04\) & \(9.97\pm 0.55\) & & \\ Mg\({}^{2+}\) & \(4.95\pm 0.22\) & \(9.17\pm 0.27\) & \(7.49\pm 0.39\) & 300/270 & 8.3/9.2 \\ \(p\) & \(15.69\pm 0.65\) & \(34.12\pm 4.05\) & \(23.05\pm 4.15\) & 550/550 & 14.3/14.3 \\ S & \(6.55\pm 0.55\) & \(19.39\pm 0.92\) & \(21.03\pm 1.05\) & - & - \\ K\({}^{+}\) & \(2.85\pm 0.65\) & \(21.30\pm 0.75\) & \(36.48\pm 2.02\) & - & - \\ Ca\({}^{2+}\) & \(10.29\pm 0.21\) & \(3.46\pm 0.14\) & \(4.76\pm 0.23\) & 700/700 & 7.4/7.4 \\ Micro mg/g DW & & & & & \\ Mn\({}^{2+}\) & \(0.05\pm 0.00\) & \(0.13\pm 0.00\) & \(0.12\pm 0.01\) & - & \\ Fe & \(0.96\pm 0.09\) & \(1.34\pm 0.05\) & \(3.73\pm 0.21\) & 8.7/14.8 & 55.2/32.4 \\ Cu\({}^{2+}\) & \(0.08\pm 0.01\) & \(0.06\pm 0.00\) & \(0.01\pm 0.00\) & 1.2/1.2 & 33.3/33.3 \\ Zn\({}^{2+}\) & \(0.08\pm 0.00\) & \(0.06\pm 0.00\) & \(0.07\pm 0.00\) & 9.5/7.0 & 4.2/5.7 \\ Se\({}^{2+}\) & \(0.01\pm 0.0\) & ND & ND & 0.075/0.06 & 66.7/83.3 \\ Heavy mg/kg DW & & & & & \\ Cd\({}^{2+}\) & \(0.01\pm 0.00\) & \(0.19\pm 0.00\) & \(0.06\pm 0.00\) & - & - \\ As\({}^{3+}\) & \(0.02\pm 0.00\) & \(0.85\pm 0.03\) & \(0.89\pm 0.06\) & - & - \\ Ag\({}^{2+}\) & \(0.03\pm 0.00\) & \(0.01\pm 0.00\) & \(0.01\pm 0.00\) & - & - \\ Pb\({}^{2+}\) & \(0.09\pm 0.00\) & \(1.85\pm 0.11\) & \(2.97\pm 0.20\) & - & - \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Mineral composition of _C. reinhardtii_, _Spirulina_ and _Chlorella_. profile which contains higher amounts of USFAs of which 48% are omega-3 fatty acids. In addition, _C. reinhardtii_ compared well with _Spirulina_ and _Chlorella_ in terms of its protein content and the quality of the amino acids. Even though the three species showed a high concentration of pigments (chlorophyll a and b and total carotenoids), _C. reinhardtii_ contained significantly higher amounts of these high-value chemicals. Furthermore, _C. reinhardtii_ contained 10 ug/g of selenium, revealing a new source of such rare and vital nutritional element. Furthermore, _C. reinhardtii_ contained significantly lower heavy metal load than the commercially grown _Chlorella_ and _Spirulina_, which eliminates the risk of heavy metals accumulation imposed by high dosage of microalgae and seaweeds generally. The results obtained in this study introduces _C. reinhardtii_ as a new valuable ingredient in feed, food and dietary supplement industries. This is very important as _C. reinhardtii_ already has a wide exploitation in biotechnology and biofuel industries so that the end product can be altered based on the market needs. Moreover, they give a strong base and pilot data to design further experiments on _C. reinhardtii_ digestibility using in vitro and in vivo models as well as sensory studies. This is to complete the picture in terms of its nutrient's bioavailability upon human and animal consumption and establish the optimal dose and way of consumption. [PERSON] conceived, designed and performed the experiments, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; [PERSON] and [PERSON] contributed in designing the experiments, analyzing the data, and writing the manuscript; [PERSON] and [PERSON] collaborated in the lab work; [PERSON] initiated the idea, supervised the research and proofread the manuscript.