Seaweed proteins could be the next sustainable food source

gay" data-src="jo1" data-sub-html="Proteins from seaweed, such as sea lettuce, have the potential to become an important food component. However, the proteins are often tightly bound, but now researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have found a new way to extract these proteins three times more efficiently than before. Here, sea lettuce is grown in tanks containing water that was previously used in the seafood industry. Through this cultivation, they take up nutrients that would otherwise have been discarded. Credit: Sophie Steinhagen">

D3T" alt="The blue-green sustainable proteins of seaweed may soon be on your plate" title="Proteins from seaweed, such as sea lettuce, have the potential to become an important food component. However, the proteins are often tightly bound, but now researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have found a new way to extract these proteins three times more efficiently than before. Here, sea lettuce is grown in tanks containing water that was previously used in the seafood industry. Through this cultivation, they take up nutrients that would otherwise have been discarded. Credit: Sophie Steinhagen" width="800" height="530"/>

The protein in sea lettuce, a sort of seaweed, is a promising complement to each meat and different present different protein sources. Seaweed additionally accommodates many different vital vitamins, and is grown without having to be watered, fertilized or sprayed with pesticides. Nonetheless, the proteins are sometimes tightly certain, and their full potential has not but been realized on our plates.

However now researchers at Chalmers College of Expertise, in Sweden, have discovered a brand new method to extract these proteins thrice extra effectively than earlier than—and this progress paves the best way for seaweed burgers and protein smoothies from the ocean.

“It tastes like umami with a sure salty taste, regardless of not containing such excessive ranges of salt. I might say it is an amazing taste enhancer for seafood dishes and merchandise, however the prospects to discover are countless. Why not protein smoothies or ‘blue burgers’ from the ocean?” says João Trigo, Ph.D. in Meals Science at Chalmers, concerning the darkish inexperienced powder, which is a focus of proteins from sea lettuce, scientifically often called Ulva fenestrata.

Sea lettuce is a sort of macroalgae, generally referred to as seaweed, which grows on rocks in calm waters, or free-floating on the floor, and resembles odd lettuce leaves in look.

The so-called protein shift—switching from crimson meat to extra sustainable and wholesome protein sources—is a method to cut back the local weather impression of meals manufacturing whereas offering everybody with a nutritious food plan. Many different protein sources, primarily based mostly on pea, soy and mushroom, are widespread in our grocery shops. However all of the vegetarian protein that’s discovered beneath the ocean continues to be an untapped supply.

The CirkAlg-project, led by Chalmers College of Expertise, has explored the probabilities of creating processes that may create a brand new, “blue-green” meals trade in Sweden, and make use of seaweed as a promising supply of protein.

Inside the framework of the challenge, a newly printed scientific examine reveals a singular manner of extracting proteins from sea lettuce, in order that it’s now potential to extract thrice extra protein from the seaweed than was potential with earlier strategies. The paper is printed within the journal Meals Chemistry.

“Our technique is a vital breakthrough, because it brings us nearer to creating it extra reasonably priced to extract these proteins, one thing that’s achieved with pea and soy proteins at present,” says João Trigo.

Comprises a number of important vitamins

Along with important proteins, sea lettuce accommodates a number of different substances of nice dietary worth for people, corresponding to vitamin B12 and the identical form of omega-3 fatty acids present in oily fish, like salmon. Individuals who don’t eat animal merchandise are liable to creating a deficiency of vitamin B12, which is critical for the physique to type crimson blood cells, amongst different issues.

And the cultivation of sea lettuce has a number of benefits in comparison with land-growing proteins—corresponding to the truth that the seaweed doesn’t should be watered, fertilized or sprayed with pesticides. Sea lettuce can be hardy and grows nicely beneath many alternative circumstances, corresponding to totally different salinity and entry to nitrogen.

“Humanity might want to discover and mix the consumption of many extra diversified protein sources than we’ve out there in our food plan at present, to satisfy sustainability and dietary necessities. Algae is an efficient addition to most of the merchandise already in the marketplace. We’d like all these options and to date, the sea-based prospects, the so-called blue proteins, have been missed,” says Ingrid Undeland, Professor of Meals Science at Chalmers and coordinator of CirkAlg.

Along with the newly printed extraction technique, the Chalmers researchers are working along with the College of Gothenburg to extend the precise protein content material within the seaweed. By cultivating sea lettuce in course of water from the seafood trade, the protein content material might be elevated considerably, whereas vitamins that will in any other case be misplaced are circulated again into the meals chain.

At Tjärnö Marine Laboratory (a part of the College of Gothenburg) in northern Bohuslän in Sweden, numerous profitable cultivation experiments have been carried out inside the CirkAlg-project, based mostly on industrial water facet currents.

“Sooner or later, we additionally need to have the ability to make use of the elements of the algae that aren’t proteins, and that might be utilized in meals, supplies or for medical purposes. The purpose is that no molecules ought to go to waste, to attain each sustainability and business alternatives,” says Undeland.

Extra concerning the extraction technique

Along with proteins which can be water-soluble, sea lettuce additionally accommodates loads of fat-soluble so-called membrane proteins. Which means the seaweed proteins are extra advanced to extract than, for instance, soy and pea protein.

In a first-step of the brand new course of, the cell membranes of the ocean lettuce are opened up in an effort to entry the fat-soluble proteins. The several types of proteins are then extracted with water adjusted to a excessive pH, and within the subsequent step, by making the answer acidic, the proteins are precipitated into aggregates that might then be separated from the water and utilized as a protein-rich ingredient.

It was additionally seen that the marine omega-3 fatty acids had been enriched within the protein ingredient, and a follow-up examine confirmed that the identical was true for vitamin B12. The brand new algae protein ingredient can thus assist meet a wider vary of dietary wants in comparison with soy protein.

The examine’s authors are João Trigo, Sophie Steinhagen, Kristoffer Stedt, Annika Krona, Simone Verhagen, Henrik Pavia, Mehdi Abdollahi and Ingrid Undeland. On the time of the examine, the researchers had been energetic at Chalmers College of Expertise, the College of Gothenburg and RISE—Analysis Institutes of Sweden.