Abstract
In recent years, the food, pharma, and cosmetic industries have shown considerable interest in bioactive molecules of marine origin that show high potential for application as nutraceuticals and therapeutic agents. Astaxanthin, a lipid-soluble and orange-reddish-colored carotenoid pigment, is one of the most investigated pigments. Natural astaxanthin is mainly produced from microalgae, and it shows much stronger antioxidant properties than its synthetic counterpart. This paper aims to summarize and discuss the important aspects and recent findings associated with the possible use of crustacean byproducts as a source of astaxanthin. In the last five years of research on the crustaceans and their byproducts as a source of natural astaxanthin, there are many new findings regarding the astaxanthin content in different species and new green extraction protocols for its extraction. However, there is a lack of information on the amounts of astaxanthin currently obtained from the byproducts as well as on the cost-effectiveness of the astaxanthin production from the byproducts. Improvement in these areas would most certainly contribute to the reduction of waste and reuse in the crustacean processing industry. Successful exploitation of byproducts for recovery of this valuable compound would have both environmental and social benefits. Finally, astaxanthin’s strong biological activity and prominent health benefits have been discussed in the paper.
Highlights
IntroductionThe aquaculture and seafood industry productions are rising in line with the increased demand for seafood products
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralThe aquaculture and seafood industry productions are rising in line with the increased demand for seafood products
To find the limitation of the successful exploitation of astaxanthin, we reviewed papers dealing with extraction protocols in search of the environmentally friendly process or green chemistry techniques for the recovery of this metabolite
Summary
The aquaculture and seafood industry productions are rising in line with the increased demand for seafood products. The production by chemical synthesis is less expensive (about $1000 per kilo), and it is indicated as the most cost-effective way to obtain this astaxanthin [19], this process does not give a pure compound but a combination of different isoforms that have 20 times lower antioxidant capacity than their natural counterpart. To date, it has not been approved for human consumption [11,18]. Special attention has been devoted to data on astaxanthin sourced from crustaceans to identify potential improvements needed for its successful industrial exploitation
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