## 4 Discussion
Moreover, PUFAs are considered health promoter agents due to their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anticancer, and cardioprotective bioactivities [101; 102], thus helping in the mitigation and prevention of diseases, such as obesity, Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases [103; 104; 105; 100]. More recently, it was found that the \(\omega\)-6/\(\omega\)-3 FA ratio in human diets is linked with the development of several autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes [95; 105; 106]. In this context, a ratio of one is recognized as ideal for human diets [107]. Thus, the seaweeds in the current study, namely _L. ochroleuca, S. latissima, S. polyschides,_ and _U. pinmatifida_ present a suitable \(\omega\)-6/\(\omega\)-3 FA ratio (0.30, 0.19, 0.39, and 0.37, respectively) for their inclusion in the human diet. Brown seaweeds' carbohydrates (or polysaccharides) are present in the algal cell wall, with the purpose of water and ion retention, in order to help them to cope with desiccation and osmotic stress during the low tide [108; 109]. For this reason, the carbohydrate yield can highly differ according to the seaweed species and the variations of the biotic and abiotic factors [9; 110; 111]. In the food sector and for nutraceutical companies, algal polysaccharides are one of the most exploited constituents [5]. These compounds are used as natural food additives to improve food quality and as ingredients, principally as a dietary fiber [5; 21]. Since seaweed polysaccharides behave as fiber when ingested by the human internal tract, they act as a probiotic food, preventing diseases, such as obesity, colorectal cancer, and gastrointestinal inflammation [112; 113; 42; 114]. Proteins produced by seaweeds can vary between 5 and 47% on a dry basis, mostly due to the environmental parameter variations but also accordingly with the species [115]. The lack of proteins is a challenge to search for a new, low-cost protein source. Because of the relatively large quantity of nitrogen compounds in seaweeds, it could play a significant role in the aforementioned issue. Thus, seaweeds can be used as a source of high-nutrition ingredients in the food industry [46]. However, to observe if the seaweeds targeted have good value as a raw food source, there is a need to observe the threshold values of the dried seaweed intake, which is normally 7 g daily, due to the iodine and other mineral content in seaweeds [7; 9; 10]. Moreover, there is a need to compare this content with terrestrial vegetables and to observe whether the food potential suppresses the need of vegetable consumption by humans. Furthermore, using the known limiting factors, we calculated the maximum daily seaweed intake (LDI). At first sight, the limiting factor in _U. pinnatifida_ (Table 10), _S. polyschides_ (Table 11), and _L. ochroleuca_ (Table 12) is the sodium content, whereas in _S. latissima_ (Table 13), it is the iron content. Thus, the mineral content is the major nutrient that demonstrates whether seaweed can be a sustainable source. _S. polyschides_ is an important supplier of sodium, magnesium, iron, potassium, and calcium, while the other analyzed species have lower mineral content. The same mineral profile with lower quantities is present in _U. pinnatifida_ and _L. ochroleuca_. Only the _S. latissima_ has a different profile, with only iron, sodium, and magnesium showing interesting quantities but with low content in potassium and calcium when compared to the other seaweeds. For example, all analyzed species had higher amounts of iron (98 g) than broccoli or potatoes (4% of iron DRI--Dietary Reference Intake). The same was observed regarding sodium and potassium [116; 117]. In terms of macronutrients, the main components of the analyzed seaweeds are fiber and protein, whereas 7 g of dried seaweed can fulfill between 1 to 3 percent of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI). The brown seaweed _S. latissima_ has a lower nutritional profile, while _L. ochroleuca_ presents the highest percentage of fiber and _U.