Brown seaweeds are a promising source of bioactive substances, particularly oligosaccharides. This group has recently gained considerable attention due to its diverse cell wall composition, structure, and wide-spectrum bioactivities. This review article provides a comprehensive update on advances in oligosaccharides (OSs) production from brown seaweeds and their potential health applications. It focuses on advances in feedstock pretreatment, extraction, characterization, and purification prior to OS use for potential health applications. Brown seaweed oligosaccharides (BSOSs) are extracted using various methods. Among these, enzymatic hydrolysis is the most preferred, with high specificity, mild reaction conditions, and low energy consumption. However, the enzyme selection and hydrolysis conditions need to be optimized for desirable yield and oligosaccharides composition. Characterization of oligosaccharides is essential to determine their structure and properties related to bioactivities and to predict their most suitable application. This is well covered in this review. Analytical techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy are commonly applied to analyze oligosaccharides. BSOSs exhibit a range of biological properties, mainly antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and prebiotic properties among others. Importantly, BSOSs have been linked to possible health advantages, including metabolic syndrome management. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions, such as obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, oligosaccharides have potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Future research should focus on improving industrial-scale oligosaccharide extraction and purification, as well as researching their potential utility in the treatment of various health disorders.[Figure: see text].
Keywords: Brown seaweed; Oligosaccharide; anti-metabolic syndrome; bioactivity; prebiotic.
Brown algae exhibit a great diversity to offer a wide range of OSs bioactivities.Non-enzymatic extraction yields 30-58% OSs more than enzymatic routes.Enzymatically derived OSs exhibit better bioactivity than non-enzymatic OSs.Nanofiltration/activated carbon can solve bottlenecks in large-scale purification.OSs health applications are proven at in vitro stage, clinical studies yet to be done.