Microalgae with active biological metal-nanoparticles as a novel food. Biosynthesis, characterization and bioavailability investigation – Review

• Published in: Trends in food science & technology Vol. 139; p. 104127
• Main Author: Ruzik, Lena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2023
• Subjects: Bioavailability; Microalgae; Microscopy; Nanoparticles; Novel food; Spectroscopy; Nanoparticles; Spectroscopy; Novel food; Microalgae; Bioavailability; Microscopy
• ISSN: 0924-2244; 1879-3053
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2023.104127

Ideas for new product development are made from actual trends, themes of public awareness, and market needs. Consumers are searching for healthy foodstuffs that contain various nutrients and extraordinary health-beneficial features. Microalgae have been known as a novel food so far and can biosynthesise many substances with potential applications in the food. Still, in recent years, increasingly microalgae have been enriched with elements essential for human organisms and present in an attractive form (for example, nanoparticles).
In this review, a review of the use methods of synthesis of microalgae with active biological metal nanoparticles as a novel food, improving the food's nutrient value was presented. Most importantly, a critical review of the advanced analytical techniques used to metabolise microalgae's metal nanoparticles in the human organism (bioavailability investigation) was shown. Analytical techniques that allow for their characterization - the determination of NPs in the single microalgae cell, the degree of absorption of NPs through the alimentary canal to the human organism, identification of their form, and estimation of chemical stability was presented.
All the presented analytical/microscopic techniques allow us to prove the safety of microalgae with nanoparticles as a novel food. It is important to remember that all new methods and techniques used in food analysis should be validated in a similar matrix and conducted with high accuracy, checking the reproducibility. It was observed that these analytical principles are not always applied.
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•The biosynthesis of nanoparticles using microalgae has become a trendy environmental and food tool.•Active biological metal nanoparticles biosynthesized by microalgae have been presented as a novel food.•Analytical techniques for the characterization of nanoparticles synthesized by microalgae are reviewed.•There are still gaps in proposing analytical methods to determine the bioavailability of elements from food.•Choosing appropriate analytical techniques for characterising metal nanoparticles is still challenging.