Potentials and applicability of marine-derived nutraceuticals in dairy industry
C. SENAKA RANADHEERA1, JANAK K. VIDANARACHCHI2
1. Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Department of Agricultural Systems, Faculty of Agriculture, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
2. University of Peradeniya, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Abstract
The marine world represents a largely untapped reservoir of bioactive ingredients that can be applied in numerous aspects of food processing, storage, and fortification. These marine-derived functional ingredients such as certain polysaccharides, polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids and carotenoids have a wide role as nutraceutical in improving human health and nutrition. These compounds have been widely used and have a greater potential to be utilized as nutraceuticals in the dairy industry.
INTRODUCTION
Nutraceuticals which commonly are referred to as functional foods, are substances that can be considered as food or part of a food which provide beneficial health effects of medical importance (3, 71). Delivering of such active substances with pharmaceutical properties through food based approaches in order to prevent or treat certain diseases can be regarded as nutraceutical applications (1). The whole concept of using food for therapeutic purposes is not novel, and in fact it has evolved considerably over the years. However, with the introduction of nutraceutical concept by Stephen DeFlice in 1989, the application of nutraceuticals in health promotion has received a wide attention globally (2-4).
Most of the nutraceutical as well as functional food products have derived from the plant kingdom (2). In this context, marine algae (macro and micro) have been identified as a valuable source of various bioactive compounds with potential applications in the nutraceutical industry (5-7). Other valuable marine sources such as bacteria, cyanobacteria, crustaceans, mollusks and certain fish species also possess secondary metabolites with po ...
