Abstract
<jats:p>Functional foods provide nutrients, but their therapeutic properties are even more important than their nutritional and energy value. The biological diversity of marine flora and fauna makes them a unique source of beneficial chemical compounds. It covered scientific literture on fucoidan extraction, purification, structure, bioactive profile, and applications published in ScienceDirect (Scopus), Springer Link, MDPI and Google Scholar in 1999–2023. Fucoidan varies in monosaccharide composition, degree of sulfation, and molecular weight. Microwave extraction provides the highest yield. The biological properties depend on molecular weight, sulfation, and monosaccharide composition. Fucoidan is a safe and promising ingredient for the functional food industry. However, very few publications report fucoidan-based commercial products or results clinical trials. As a bioactive polysaccharide, fucoidan holds significant promise for the food industry. However, its use is limited by the lack of standardized extraction and purification methods. Therefore, optimizing production parameters and developing standardized urification protocols are the key attention areas within modern biotechnology. Novel approaches will enable fucoidan to become a fully-fledged functional ingredient and expand the range of functional foods.</jats:p>