Krill in health products?

Sólveig Guðmunda Guðmundsdóttir, MS from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences 

In recent years and decades, attention has turned to making better use of marine resources, both from the perspective of sustainability and with a view to investigating resources that have not been used before, but could have a positive impact on human health. One example is krill, which is a tiny crustacean that lives near the surface of the sea, in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. 

"The Antarctic krill, which is caught near Antarctica, has been used for many years, but the krill in the Northern hemisphere are a rather underutilized and little researched resource. Although there is a wealth of krill products on the market, as far as I know there is no product made from Icelandic krill," says Sólveig Guðmunda Guðmundsdóttir, whose final thesis in pharmacy focused on developing methods to isolate and analyse bioactive compounds from krill around Iceland. "The goal was to develop a cost-effective method to maximise efficiency in processing the compounds and at the same time analyse the main compound groups in the krill, such as fatty acids and antioxidants, and measure the volume of krill oil that was formed." 
 

The krill was caught in Ísafjarðardjúp in the West Fjords, and this sparked Sólveig's interest in the project, since it provided a wonderful opportunity to work with products from her own hemisphere. "I was also excited to be processing compounds from a marine organism that could prove useful to us humans," says Sólveig. 

Sólveig succeeded in developing a method to isolate bioactive compounds from the Northern krill. "The method deemed best was selected on the basis of saving various time-consuming and costly steps, the volume of krill oil that was formed, the composition of the fatty acids and stability. I also succeeded in analysing the major fatty acids, including the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, and confirming the presence of the antioxidant astaxanthin," she says – these materials have been extremely popular in health products due to their beneficial effects. 

Sólveig points out that continuing research into the Northern krill could provide the basis for production here in Iceland. "With people being more aware of the importance of healthy lifestyles and general health, the popularity of omega-3 fatty acids, which are present in krill, has increased significantly. So I believe that products made from krill could become very popular on the market in the near future," she concludes. 

Supervisors: Hákon Hrafn Sigurðsson and Elín Soffía Ólafsdóttir, professors at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.