The extremely vast biodiversity represented by marine mollusks alongside their widespread utility as a source of food and their high nutritional value has aroused great interest from the scientific community. Furthermore, they can be caught with ease, and their commercial breeding and farming is rampant. This article comprehends the global availability of these organisms, their pretreatment and handling procedures, and their health-promoting potential with a focus on their antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties. The emphasis herein is on their potential use in the food and nutraceutical industry. In addition, mollusks consumption as part of everyday diet can also be helpful in avoiding many ailments as they are rich in vital nutrients and active secondary metabolites, as well as have the ability to enhance immune response. Moreover, the available literature suggests that normal cooking practices have no notable adverse effects on their nutritional value and they retain certain bioactivities even after the action of digestive enzymes. Though mollusks have been widely studied in relation to the health-promoting effects reviewed here, there is still more scope for further research in this direction in order to fully utilize this enormous source of food and nutraceuticals.
Keywords: anti-inflammatory; antimicrobial; antiviral; food industry; functional foods; mollusks; nutraceuticals.
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