Scientists supercharge shellfish to tackle vitamin deficiency in humans

ta385 — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Over two billion people worldwide are nutrient deficient, leading to a wide range of serious health problems. Fortifying food with micronutrients is already an industry standard for enhancing public health but now scientists at Cambridge’s Department of Zoology have teamed up with Cambridge-based company BioBullets to supercharge one of the world’s most healthy and sustainable sources of animal protein: bivalve shellfish such as oysters, clams and mussels.

Dr David Aldridge and PhD student David Willer have produced the world’s first microcapsule specially designed to deliver nutrients to bivalves which are beneficial to human health. These “Vitamin Bullets” – manufactured under patent by Aldridge’s company, BioBullets – are tailored for optimal size, shape, buoyancy and to appeal to shellfish.

This breakthrough, described in a study published today in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, is particularly valuable because when we eat bivalves, we consume the entire organism including its gut, meaning that we digest the nutrients which the animals consumed towards the end of their lives. This makes bivalve shellfish the ideal target for nutritional fortification.

In their Cambridge laboratory, the scientists trialled Vitamin A and D fortified microcapsules on over 100 oysters to identify the optimal dose. They also established that this should be fed for 8 hours towards the end of “depuration”, the period in which bivalves are held in cleansing tanks after being harvested.

̽��ֱ��team found that fortified oysters delivered around 100 times more Vitamin A, and over 150 times more Vitamin D, than natural oysters. Even more importantly, they dramatically outperformed salmon, one of the best natural sources of these vitamins. ̽��ֱ��fortified oysters provided more than 26 times more Vitamin A and over four times more Vitamin D than salmon. ̽��ֱ��scientists found that a serving of just two of their supercharged shellfish provided enough Vitamin A and D to meet human Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDAs).

Vitamin A and D deficiencies pose a particularly serious public health challenge – in Ghana more than 76% of children are Vitamin A deficient, causing widespread mortality and blindness. In India, 85% of the population is Vitamin D deficient, which causes cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and rickets. Even in the US, over 40% of people are Vitamin D deﬁcient.

David Willer said: “We have demonstrated a cheap and eﬀective way to get micronutrients into a sustainable and delicious source of protein. Targeted use of this technology in regions worst affected by nutrient deficiencies, using carefully selected bivalve species and micronutrients, could help improve the health of millions, while also reducing the harm that meat production is doing to the environment”.

David Aldridge said: “We are very excited about BioBullets’ potential. We are now establishing links with some of the world’s biggest seafood manufacturers to drive a step change in the sustainability and nutritional value of the seafood that we consume.”

Bivalves have a higher protein content than beef, are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, and have some of the highest levels of key minerals of all animal foods. Nevertheless, the nutrients that they deliver naturally is unlikely to solve global deﬁciencies. These shellfish are also highly sustainable to farm, having a far lower environmental footprint than animal meat or ﬁsh, and lower even than many plant crops such as wheat, soya, and rice.

Bivalves are a highly aﬀordable food source when produced at large scale and the global market is rapidly expanding. Production in China alone has grown 1000-fold since 1980 and there is great potential to sustainably expand bivalve aquaculture worldwide, with over 1,500,000 km² available for sustainable low-cost industry development, particularly around the west coast of Africa and India.

̽��ֱ��researchers point out that consumers in poorer regions where vitamin deﬁciencies are most prevalent are more likely to buy slightly more expensive fortified food than to make additional purchases to take supplement pills. They calculate that fortification adds just $0.0056 to the cost of producing a single oyster.

David Willer is supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; and David Aldridge is supported by ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, St Catharine’s College and Corpus Christi College.

Reference:

D.F. Willer & D.C. Aldridge, ‘Vitamin bullets. Microencapsulated feeds to fortify shellfish and tackle human nutrient deficiencies’, Frontiers in Nutrition (July 2020). DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2020.00102

Cambridge scientists have developed a new way to fortify shellfish to tackle human nutrient deficiencies which cause severe health problems across the world. ̽��ֱ��team is now working with major seafood manufacturers to further test their microencapsulation technology, or “Vitamin Bullets”.

Targeted use of this technology in regions worst affected by nutrient deficiencies ... could help improve the health of millions

David Willer

Image by Yung-pin Pao from Pixabay

Oysters

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Learn more about the work of David Willer and Dr David Aldridge in this feature.

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Vitamin D could repair nerve damage in multiple sclerosis, study suggests

cjb250 — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 14:00:25 +0000

Researchers, from the MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair, identified that the ‘vitamin D receptor’ protein pairs with an existing protein, called the RXR gamma receptor, already known to be involved in the repair of myelin, the protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres.

By adding vitamin D to brain stem cells where the proteins were present, they found the production rate of oligodendrocytes (myelin making cells) increased by 80%. When they blocked the vitamin D receptor to stop it from working, the RXR gamma protein alone was unable to stimulate the production of oligodendrocytes.

In MS, the body’s own immune system attacks and damages myelin, causing disruption to messages sent around the brain and spinal cord; symptoms are unpredictable and include problems with mobility and balance, pain, and severe fatigue. ̽��ֱ��body has a natural ability to repair myelin, but with age this becomes less effective.

Professor Robin Franklin from the MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair and the Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute, who led the study, says: “For years scientists have been searching for a way to repair damage to myelin. So far, the majority of research on vitamin D has looked at its role in the cause of the disease. This work provides significant evidence that vitamin D is also involved in the regeneration of myelin once the disease has started. In the future we could see a myelin repair drug that works by targeting the vitamin D receptor.”

Dr Susan Kohlhaas, Head of Biomedical Research at the MS Society, said: “More than 100,000 people in the UK have multiple sclerosis and finding treatments that can slow, stop or reverse the worsening of disability is a priority for the MS Society. We’d now like to see more studies to understand whether taking vitamin D supplements could, in time, be an effective and safe treatment for people with MS.

She continued: “For now though, this is early stage research that’s been done in the laboratory and more work is needed before we know whether it would hold true in people with MS. It’s not a good idea, however, to be deficient in vitamin D and we’d encourage anybody who thinks they might be to speak to their GP.”

Following this research, scientists will need to understand more about the underlying biology of this receptor before considering how the vitamin D receptor could be safely and effectively targeted in future trials in people with MS.

Reference
Guzman de la Fuente, A et al. Vitamin D receptor–retinoid X receptor heterodimer signaling regulates oligodendrocyte progenitor cell differentiation. Journal of Cell Biology; 7 Dec 2015

Adapted from a press release by the MS Society

A protein activated by vitamin D could be involved in repairing damage to myelin in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new research from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��study, published today in the Journal of Cell Biology, offers significant evidence that vitamin D could be a possible treatment for MS in the future.

This work provides significant evidence that vitamin D is involved in the regeneration of myelin once the disease has started

Robin Franklin

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Neuron with oligodendrocyte and myelin sheath (edited)

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Scientists supercharge shellfish to tackle vitamin deficiency in humans

Vitamin D could repair nerve damage in multiple sclerosis, study suggests