EU project presented to the Crown Prince
Nofima has led an EU project that has yielded good clinical results. Crown Prince Haakon was presented with the results on Wednesday, and at the same time given a tour of Nofima's facility in Bergen.
The clinical tests from the EU project show that dietary supplements containing, among other things, concentrate from fish trimmings and fish oil have an effect on depression, increase physical performance and improve skin and hair.
The findings were made in the EU project Aquabiopro-fit.
The researchers have used enzymatic hydrolysis, among other things.
In Nofima’s advanced laboratory in Bergen, analyses have been made of the minerals and amino acids extracted from the residual raw materials. With these analyses, the researchers have gone further and scaled up production both in the processing hall in Bergen and at Nofima’s pilot factory Biotep in Tromsø.
In this way, dietary supplements have been produced that have been used in the clinical tests. Now it is up to the industry partners in the EU project to take the results further.
Today, large quantities of raw materials from fisheries and aquaculture are wasted or used in animal feed in Europe. This raw material constitutes a nutritious biomass that is rich in proteins, bioactive peptides, amino acids, polyunsaturated fats, organic minerals and vitamins.
“Using enzymatic hydrolysis, products of great value can be made for us humans,” says Senior Scientist Katerina Kousoulaki, who has led the project.
(The results of the project can be found further down in the article).
In addition to results from the EU project, the Crown Prince gained insight into how researchers work with new raw feed materials. The Storting has adopted the Government’s new long-term plan for research where more sustainable feed is defined as a social mission. Nofima has particular skills in this area and would like to contribute its expertise.
Together with the feed producers, Nofima develops feed based on new raw materials such as crickets, soldier fly larvae, flour beetle larvae, algae and mesopelagic species. The Crown Prince saw examples of both raw feed materials and ready-made feed for trials.
Here are some of the results from the EU project Aquabiopro-fit:
- Positive effects on depression using the dietary supplement developed in the EU-BBI-JU-H2020 project Aquabiopro-fit. The ingredients have been developed by Nofima, Seagarden and Pelagia/Epax.
- Positive effects on skin health during the summer months in Greece. The ingredients have been developed by Nofima, Seagarden and Pelagia/Epax.
- Significant positive effects related to sports performance and omega-3 levels in the blood with the use of the dietary supplement. The ingredients have been developed by Nofima, Seagarden and Pelagia/Epax.
- Development of tunicate protein for hamburgers and tunicate umami stock as a meat flavour enhancer. The ingredients have been developed by Nofima and MarinFeed. The researchers also developed tunicate flour for use in salmon feed.
The clinical studies were carried out in Greece by Biognosis and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and screening model studies were carried out by the University of Crete (School of Medicine, Greece), the University of Valencia (Pharmacy School, Spain), Nofima (Norway) and BioInTech (Bulgaria).
Contact person
Topics
Residual raw material