
Seaweed oil, also called algae oil or algal oil, is used for making food, with the purified product almost colorless and odorless.
It is also under development as a possible alternative fuel and manufacturing agent.
Seaweed oil is also used as a source of
fatty acid
In chemistry, in particular in biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid with an aliphatic chain, which is either saturated and unsaturated compounds#Organic chemistry, saturated or unsaturated. Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an ...
dietary supplement
A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement a person's diet by taking a pill (pharmacy), pill, capsule (pharmacy), capsule, tablet (pharmacy), tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients eithe ...
, as it contains
mono-
Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and many other languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words. For example:
* triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, oc ...
and
polyunsaturated fats, in particular
EPA and
DHA, both of them
omega-3 fatty acids. The supplement's DHA content is roughly equivalent to that of
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
-based fish oil supplement.
Seaweed oil is also used for
biofuel
Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...
,
pharmaceutical
Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
manufacturing,
massage oil,
soaps, and
lotions
Lotion is a low-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to the skin. By contrast, creams and gels have higher viscosity, typically due to lower water content. Lotions are applied to external skin with bare hands, a brush, a clea ...
.
[
]
See also
* List of omega-3 fatty acids
* Edible seaweed
References
{{reflist
Cooking oils
Dietary supplements
Algal food ingredients
Vegetable oils