"The usage of macroalgae in traditional food and was recorded in early Neolithic data of ten thousand years back. Being naturally enriched in key nutrients and in various health-promoting compounds, they are traditionally consumed in many Asian countries like China, Indonesia, Philippine, South Korea, North Korea, Japan and Malaysia for centuries. Recently, they have attained more reputation in western countries. Seaweeds promising candidates for the design of functional foods have become key foods in current nutritional practices (vegetarian, vegans, health-foods, etc.) and are increasingly widely consumed in the USA, South American and European countries. Global demands for seaweeds has been growing together with increases in usage beyond former traditional applications. According to statistics of the most cultivated seaweed taxa, three were used mainly for extraction: ' spp. and ' for s, and ' spp. for ; ', ', ' spp. and ' were the most important in human food usage. The main producing countries were China, Indonesia and the Philippines."