The growing interest in laver as a food product and as a source of substances beneficial to health has led to global consumer demand for laver produced in a limited area of northeastern Asia. Here we review research into the benefits of laver consumption and discuss future perspectives on the improvement of laver product quality. Variation in nutritional/functional values among product types (raw and processed (dried, roasted, or seasoned) laver) makes product-specific nutritional analysis a prerequisite for accurate prediction of health benefits. The effects of drying, roasting, and seasoning on the contents of both beneficial and harmful substances highlight the importance of managing laver processing conditions. Most research into health benefits has focused on substances present at high concentrations in laver (porphyran, Vitamin B₁₂, taurine), with assessment of the expected effects of laver consumption. Mitigation of chemical/microbiological risks and the adoption of novel technologies to exploit under-reported biochemical characteristics of lavers are suggested as key strategies for the further improvement of laver product quality. Comprehensive analysis of the literature regarding laver as a food product and as a source of biomedical compounds highlights the possibilities and challenges for application of laver products.

Although antibacterial spectrum of essential oils (EOs) has been analyzed along with consumers’ needs on natural biocides, singular treatments generally require high concentration of EOs and long-term exposures to eliminate target bacteria. To overcome these limitations, antibacterial complex has been developed and this review analyzed previous reports regarding the combined antibacterial effects of EOs. Since unexpectable combined effects (synergism or antagonism) can be derived from the treatment of antibacterial complex, synergistic and antagonistic combinations have been identified to improve the treatment efficiency and to avoid the overestimation of bactericidal efficacy, respectively. Although antibacterial mechanism of EOs is not yet clearly revealed, mode of action regarding synergistic effects especially for the elimination of pathogens by using low quantity of EOs with short-term exposure was reported. Whereas comprehensive analysis on previous literatures for EO-based disinfectant products implies that the composition of constituents in antibacterial complexes is variable and thus analyzing the impact of constituting substances (e.g., surfactant, emulsifier) on antibacterial effects is further needed. This review provides practical information regarding advances in the EO-based combined treatment technologies and highlights the importance of following researches on the interaction of constituents in antibacterial complex to clarify the mechanisms of antibacterial synergism and/or antagonism.