Exploring the potential health benefits of marine by-products

Narmada Weerakkody
MSc Student
Department of Biochemistry

Date: March 25, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. 
Room: CSF 1302

Abstract:

Commercial seafood processing generates substantial waste, containing valuable bioactives/compounds such as omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), bioactive peptides, antioxidants, polysaccharides, and diverse carotenoids such as astaxanthin that could be used to develop functional foods, nutraceuticals or pharmaceuticals. Our team collaborates with process engineers to develop “green” methods to extract marine by-products, and we are assessing whether these extracts possess cardioprotective, anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties, along with boosting brain health and providing other health benefits. We have prepared extracts from shrimp (Pandalus borealis) by-products using solvents like hexane, acetone, and ethanol under various conditions.  By-products of wet shrimp (WE) and freeze-dried shrimp (FD) were extracted using Soxhlet extraction with ethanol, or hexane: acetone (2:3 v/v). The total lipid composition, fatty acid composition, and astaxanthin content were measured, and the anti-adipogenic effects of these extracts were studied in 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes. WE extracts demonstrated higher levels of (n)-3 PUFA, compared to FD waste extracts. FD waste extracts had higher astaxanthin content compared to WE extracts. WE extracts contained particles (identified as calcite, aragonite, and basanite through XRD analysis) WE extracts notably decreased fat accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes compared to FD extracts. Our findings demonstrated that shrimp by-product extracts obtained through “greener” solvents possess similar lipid composition, and anti-adipogenic properties , highlighting the potential of sustainable extraction methods from shrimp processing by-products.