SWAFAX

Seaweed derived anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The project is designed to address a commercial opportunity to obtain bioactive compounds from seaweeds for application in food and health & wellness products. Although polyphenols from land plants are widely used as functional food ingredients and food supplements, seaweed sources have been little studied or exploited. The consortium comprises 4 SME partners Hebridean Seaweed, Marigot, Coressence and Mesosystem, and 3 RTD providers – CyberColloids and Universities of Reading and Ulster. In the first stage of the project seaweed polyphenol extracts (SPEs) will be prepared. One of the SPEs will be produced at food grade quality from Ascophyllum. In addition, a series of novel polyphenol extracts from a range of seaweed types of relevance to the partner SMEs, will be prepared. All the extracts will be characterised for their polyphenol content. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the food grade SPE will be assessed in a dietary intervention trial in human subjects. The end points will include prevention of oxidative DNA damage in lymphocytes, and modulation of anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines in plasma. In addition a short-term dietary intervention in human volunteers will be conducted to assess bioavailability and metabolism of the component polyphenols in the extract. Finally the novel SPEs will be investigated for anti-inflammatory and anti oxidant activity in vitro. The food grade SPE will be included as a comparator. In this way it should be possible to extrapolate from the in vitro activities to provide an estimate of the likely in vivo effects in terms of anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and to provide the SME’s with candidate extracts with potential beneficial properties that can be further developed at a later stage. The SME partners in conjunction with Cybercolloids will implement polyphenol extract technology transfer and formulate a route to market'

Introduzione (Teaser)

A European proposal focused its investigation on the health-promoting activity of a seaweed polyphenol extract (SPE). After a human intervention study revealed the beneficial impact of seaweed polyphenols on health the project prepared industry-grade extracts for commercial use.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Accumulating evidence suggests that modern diet and city environments damage biological macromolecules and may lead to a variety of degenerative disorders. Epidemiologic studies have shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, red wine and cocoa protects against such damage. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of these foods have been attributed to their high content of polyphenols.

Although polyphenols from land plants are widely used as functional food ingredients and food supplements, seaweed sources have not been exploited. The main objective of the EU-funded 'Seaweed derived anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants' (SWAFAX) project was to explore methods for extracting polyphenols from the seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum. The goal was to derive bioactive compounds from seaweeds for application in food and health and wellness products.

Optimisation of the extraction methods led to a food-grade SPE containing a mixture of different molecular weight polyphenols. When tested on lymphocytes in vitro, this SPE exhibited substantial bioactivity and protected cells against DNA damage. It also demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity by reducing pro-inflammatory while increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines.

A human intervention study was conducted which entailed the consumption of one SPE by healthy volunteers. After an 8-week period, participants showed reduced levels of oxidants in their blood plasma and lower levels of DNA damage. Despite the inter-individual variation in absorption and metabolism of the polyphenols, there was an overall beneficial effect which could be translated into preventive measures against many degenerative diseases.

Exploitation of the SWAFAX SPE project could find a number of commercial applications with significant financial benefit for the implicated SMEs. Strong international interest was expressed by various other companies engaged in the personal care, health supplements and food and beverage markets.