The main goal of the present study is to perform state-of-the art human and animal intervention studies using a nutrigenomics approach to investigate health-effects of salmon fishmeal derived from farmed salmon
Nutrition, environment and sustainability
As one of the largest fishery nations in the world, Norway has a responsibility for managing our bio-marine resources with respect to sustainability, environmental footprint and value creation. This is not the situation today with e.g. the discarding of > 60 % of the by-products from the whitefish industry. By-products from the farmed fish sector have a high grade of utilization but are mainly converted to low-cost commodity products for the feed and pet-food industry. With the expected growth in the aquaculture sector, even more protein-rich by-products will become available.
Turning proteins from marine by-products into products for human consumption is believed to be an integral part of the solution but proper documentation of the health impact of fish protein and peptides of marine by-products is wanted. One of the identified critical success factors to do so is therefore to document health beneficial effects of salmon meal in human.
Objectives
- To investigate the health beneficial effects of fish protein in the form of fishmeal in human and animal intervention studies with regard to cardiometabolic risk markers including plasma lipids and lipid class distribution and inflammatory, hemostatic and endothelial dysfunction markers.
- To further elucidate the underlying mechanisms by utilizing nutrigenomic tools such as metabolic profiling and transcriptomics before and after the intervention to further understand the health benefits and the mechanisms of action.
- To uncover molecular mechanisms underlying the health beneficial effects of fish protein by testing fishmeal, refined hydrolysates and serum from study objects in ex vivo cell systems.
Financing
Funded by The Norwegian Seafood Research Fund, organized through The Research Council of Norway.
