Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba) Oil: A Comprehensive Review of Chemical Composition, Extraction Technologies, Health Benefits, and Current Applications

Abstract

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) oil has been receiving increasing attention due to its nutritional and functional potentials. However, its application as a novel food ingredient has not yet been fully explored. This review summarizes the chemical composition, extraction technologies, potential health benefits, and current applications of krill oil, with the aim of providing suggestions for its exploitation. Krill oil is a unique lipid consisting of diverse lipid classes and is characterized by a high concentration (39.29% to 80.69%) of phospholipids (PLs) associated with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). It also contains considerable amounts of bioactive minor components such as astaxanthin, sterols, tocopherols, vitamin A, flavonoids, and minerals. The current technologies used in krill oil production are solvent extraction, nonsolvent extraction, super/subcritical fluid extraction, and enzyme‐assisted pretreatment extraction, which all greatly influence the yield and quality of the end‐product. In addition, krill oil has been documented to have various health benefits, including anti‐inflammatory effects, cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, women's health, neuroprotection, and anticancer activities. Although krill oil products used for dietary supplements have been commercially available, few studies have attempted to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms to elucidate how exactly the krill oil exerts different biological activities. Further studies should focus on this to improve the development of krill oil products for human consumption.

Dietary inclusion of Antarctic krill meal during the finishing feed period improves health and fillet quality of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salarL.)

“…Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a small marine crustacean organism that has generated strong research interest during the past several years (5) . Based on the nutritional profile, krill has been specified with protein, amino acids and ash contents which are comparable to that of fish (6,7) .…”

Collective Locomotion of Human Cells, Wound Healing and Their Control by Extracts and Isolated Compounds from Marine Invertebrates

“…Marine invertebrates are a still poorly exploited valuable resource of natural products that may significantly improve the process of skin regeneration and restrain tumor cell migration, as documented by the in vitro and in vivo studies presented in this review and summarized in a synoptic way in Table 1. Only a very limited number of compounds and methods of extraction have been patented and/or introduced for treatment schemes to date, i.e., krill oil preparations [228], cellulose films from S. clava (patent KR20150117748A South Korea), S. herrmanni's collagen for biocomposites [229], and S. japonicus's fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (patent CN102367285A China). In conclusion, there is still an enormous potential offered by marine invertebrates towards a variety of applications that may significantly improve human health and the well-being of future generations.…”

Preparation and Characterization of Microemulsions Based on Antarctic Krill Oil

“…Ferhatoğlu reported that supplementing patients with krill oil before colorectal surgery may reduce some risk factors for anastomotic leakage, accelerating wound healing and reducing excessive inflammation [ 8 ]. There are also considerable amounts of bioactive components in krill oil, such as astaxanthin, sterols, vitamin A, tocopherols, flavonoids, and minerals [ 9 , 10 ]. Many studies have suggested the health benefits of Antarctic krill oil.…”

“…Due to its various benefits for body health, krill oil has a promising potential in applications for food [ 2 , 33 ], nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals as a novel food ingredient. In recent years, relevant krill oil products are very often seen in the forms of capsules, soft gels, tablets, and gummies as dietary supplements in the market [ 9 ].…”

“…The high viscosity and low water solubility of krill oil make the processing of krill oil difficult. So far, the research on Antarctic krill oil includes physiological functions, extraction technologies (including solvent type, nonsolvent type, super/subcritical fluid type, and enzyme-assisted type) [ 9 ], soft capsule formulation, and preparation of microcapsules by complex coacervation method [ 37 , 38 ], acute pore method, spray drying method [ 39 ], etc.…”