Seaweeds in the human diet as an alternative to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: A risk-benefit approach

• Autor(a) principal: Fernandes, Maria Beatriz Marta Ferreira de Jesus
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/147832
• topic: Seaweed; risk-benefit assessment; nutrition; toxicology; health; sustainable development goals; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia do Ambiente

The existence of various inequalities at the world level makes it difficult to achieve the sustainable development. In order to change this paradigm, increasingly ambitious goals are emerging, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as new alternatives to achieve them more quickly. Seaweeds have been identified as a potential solution to this problem due to their important role in providing various ecosystem services as well as their nutrient richness. As a result, in this Thesis, a risk-benefit assessment (RBA) was performed for the consumption of two macroalgae species: Porphyra sp. and Undaria pinnatifida. For this RBA, and in order to analyse the benefits associated with the consumption of these two species, the amounts of nutrients present in both were compared with the dietary reference values (DRV) for the adult population. To assess the risk component associated with their consumption, an analysis of the contaminants frequently present in these algae was conducted, based on the methodologies applied by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in different studies for each element. The results of this RBA, together with the literature gathered throughout this Thesis, allow the connection between the consumption and production of seaweeds with the achievement of several targets of the SDGs, as well as the potential achievement of other targets.