## 4 Discussion  
The demand for functional foods is growing as people become more aware of the link between daily diet and health [41]. Functional foods and ingredients are useful not only because they contain vital nutrients but also because they contain bioactive substances, which have been discovered to be important for disease prevention and health improvement [42; 43; 44; 45]. Seaweeds hold a rich nutritional profile as well as biologically active compounds, such as pigments, phenolic compounds, sulphated polysaccharides, fatty acids, and proteins, which could contribute to the development of several novel food products [41; 42; 46; 47; 48; 49]. The habitat and the environment where seaweeds are present highly influences their biochemical and nutritional profile [50; 51; 52]. Nevertheless, seaweeds' chemical profile is species specific and varies according biotic and abiotic parameters variation [13; 53; 54]. Moreover, polysaccharides that constitute the seaweed cell wall have a substantial impact on its ability to absorb nutrients [55; 56]. For this reason, brown seaweeds are well known for their exceptional mineral-absorption abilities [57; 58]. Tables 8 and 9 sum the nutritional and macro and micro element analysis of the studied species reported in the literature. The non-indigenous seaweed _U. pimatifida_ (or wakame) is among the most representative sea vegetable in the food market, holding a high economic value [59; 60]. The biochemical profile of _U. pimatifida_, harvested in Spain, was evaluated, exhibiting higher content of sodium and potassium (3511 and 5679 mg 100 g DW, respectively) but lower values of phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, and manganese (1070, 693.2, 630.2, 0.19, 3.86, and 0.69 mg 100 g DW, respectively) [59]. However, the same seaweed harvested in Japan presented higher concentration of magnesium, copper, zinc, and manganese (405, 0.185, 0.944, and 0.332 mg 100 g DW, respectively) but lower content of \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Groups**} & **Av. Diss. between** & \multirow{2}{*}{**Main FA**} & **\% Contribution** & **\% Cumulative** \\  & & **Groups** & & **to Diss.** & **Contribution to Diss.** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{A, B} & \multirow{4}{*}{14.17} & C18:1 & 26.80 & \multirow{4}{*}{62.60} \\  & & C16:1 & 12.70 & \\  & & EPA & 32.89 & \\ \multirow{4}{*}{A, C} & \multirow{2}{*}{20.57} & C18:3t & 19.07 & 67.00 \\  & & C18:3c & 15.04 & \\ \multirow{4}{*}{B, C} & \multirow{2}{*}{26.17} & EPA & 26.61 & \multirow{4}{*}{59.58} \\  & & C18:3t & 19.37 & 59.58 \\ \cline{1-1} \cline{5-5}  & & C18:3c & 13.60 & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: SIMPER results regarding dissimilarities (diss.) between the groups identified (A—_Laminaria ochroleuca_; B—_Saccharina latissima_; C—_Saccharizha polyschides_ and _Undaria pimatifida_). Dissimilarities between different groups are provided by the average dissimilarity within each group (Av. diss. between groups)—the lower the dissimilarity (tending to 0), the higher the similarity within each group. The three FAs that contribute the most for the dissimilarity between groups are shown, as well as the percentage of that contribution and the cumulative contribution of those three FAs for the total dissimilarity between groups, in percentage. Replicates SL_R2 and SP_R3 were considered outliers of the analysis. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Species**} & **(g GAE/ 100 g Algae)** \\ \hline _U. pimatifida_ & \(5.63\times 10^{-3}\pm 1.43\times 10^{-4\,\mathrm{a}}\) \\ _S. polyschides_ & \(6.19\times 10^{-3}\pm 1.15\times 10^{-4\,\mathrm{b}}\) \\ _S. latissima_ & \(4.91\times 10^{-3}\pm 1.08\times 10^{-4\,\mathrm{c}}\) \\ _L. ochroleuca_ & \(3.72\times 10^{-3}\pm 1.09\times 10^{-4\,\mathrm{d}}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 7: Total phenolic compound of the aqueous extracts of _U. pimatifida_, S. latissima_, L. ochroleuca_, and _S. polyschides_. Results are expressed in mean \(\pm\) standard deviation (\(n=3\); dry weight basis).