**Abstract**

For thousands of years, seaweeds grown in coastal and marine have been used as food, materials and medicines by the people. Edible seaweeds directly consumed, especially in Asian, are used for preparing food due to the their components containing minerals, essential trace elements, and various natural compounds. At the last decades, they have been getting more and more attention in food and pharmaceutical industries because of their biological activities such as anti-cancer, anti-obesity, anti-diabetes, anti-microbial, and anti-oxidant activity. Therefore, in the present study, we have worked on to understand the structure of edible seaweeds. It is worthy to mention that they can be considered as source of some proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, dietary fibers, antioxidants, and phytochemicals.

**Keywords:** edible seaweeds, polysaccharides, anti-cancer, anti-obesity, anti-diabetes, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial
