From Sea to Sweet: Seaweed's Role in Nutritious and Sustainable Confectionery

Seaweed is increasingly recognized as a multifunctional ingredient in confectionery products, owing to its exceptional nutritional profile, functional properties, and environmental sustainability. This review highlights the integration of seaweed and seaweed-derived compounds into a wide range of confectioneries, including chocolates, puddings, snack bars, gummies, drinking jellies, and jelly candies. Green, brown, and red seaweed varieties are rich in antioxidants, dietary fiber, essential minerals, and bioactive compounds, such as sulfated polysaccharides, polyphenols, pigments, and phytosterols. These compounds exhibit a range of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-anemic, and photoprotective effects. Moreover, functional hydrocolloids such as agar, alginate, and carrageenan, derived from seaweed, could substitute animal-based gelling agents and improve the texture, stability, and shelf life of plant-based confectionery products. While the inclusion of seaweed enhances the nutritional quality of confectionery products by increasing protein, fiber, and mineral content, challenges persist regarding sensory attributes, formulation optimization, and regulatory approval. Future perspectives should prioritize the application of innovative processing technologies, increased consumer education, clinical trials, and in vivo experiments to substantiate the health benefits of final products, and the exploration of underutilized seaweed species to meet the growing demand for clean-label, sustainable, circular economy-aligned, and plant-based confectionery.