Aquaculture waste utilization: bio-actives from farmed salmon and cod

自20世纪70年代初以来，水产养殖继续以每年8.8%的前所未有的速度增长，而这是在全球对过度捕捞的担忧导致野生捕捞鱼类的收获趋于平稳的时候。现在很清楚，世界海产品供应中不断增长的市场需求必须由水产养殖来满足。尽管有增长的潜力，但由于公众担心环境问题以及疾病从养殖物种向野生物种传播，监管机构继续施加压力，要求限制扩张。此外，有一种公众看法认为，养殖的物种被喂食了促进生长和抗菌的化学物质，这些化学物质可能成为食物供应的一部分。水产养殖渔业的一个问题是加工废物对环境的潜在影响。这些废物大部分被转化为鱼粉、青贮饲料或肥料，对生产这些副产品的必要设施的投资回报率非常低。然而，现在人们知道，从加工废物中回收的某些鱼类蛋白质具有潜在的人类健康益处。马雷特博士和他在拉瓦尔大学的研究小组已经能够将高脂肪喂养（肥胖）的大鼠和人类的胰岛素敏感性显著增加与饮食中高水平鱼类蛋白质（迄今为止是鳕鱼和大西洋鲑鱼）的存在联系起来。这一点很重要，因为2型糖尿病与肥胖有关，目前已知有近200万加拿大人患有2型糖尿病。该研究项目的主旨是利用可食用水产养殖加工废弃物生产代谢生物活性肽，并开发一种新的“营养”方法来治疗人类2型糖尿病。商业机会将是利用养殖鳕鱼和大西洋鲑鱼的生物活性营养品来提高易患2型糖尿病的人的胰岛素敏感性。同时，将水产养殖废弃物用于营养品生产可以将废弃物转化为利润更高的最终产品。

Aquaculture continues to grow at an unprecedented rate of 8.8% per year since the early 1970's and this comes at a time when the harvest of wild-caught fish has leveled off due to global concerns about over-fishing. It is now clear that the growing market demand created in the world's seafood supply will have to be met by aquaculture. Despite the potential for growth, there is continued pressure from regulators to limit expansion based upon public concern over environmental concerns as well as spread of disease from farmed species to wild species. In addition, there is a public perception that the farmed species are fed growth-promoting and antibacterial chemicals that could become part of the food supply. One problem with the aquaculture fishery is the potential impact of processing waste on the environment. Much of this waste is converted into fish meal, silage or fertilizers yielding very low returns on investment in the necessary facilities to produce these by-products. However, it is now known that certain fish proteins recoverable from processing waste possess potential human health benefits. Dr. Marette and his team of researchers at Laval University have been able to link the presence of high levels of dietary fish protein (to date cod and Atlantic salmon) with a marked increase in insulin sensitivity in high fat-fed (obese) rats and humans. This is significant insofar as type 2 diabetes is related to obesity and has known to affect nearly 2 million Canadians. The thrust of this research project is to use edible aquaculture processing waste to produce metabolically bioactive peptides and to develop a new "nutraceutical" approach to the treatment of type 2 diabetes in humans. The commercial opportunity will be to use the bio-active nutraceuticals from farmed cod and Atlantic salmon to enhance insulin sensitivity in individuals prone to Type 2 diabetes. At the same time, the utilization of aquaculture discards for nutraceutical production could divert waste materials into production of more profitable end-products.