CMFRI Develops Nutraceutical from Seaweeds

KOCHI:
The city-headquartered Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Tuesday came out with a nutraceutical product, developed from seaweeds, to combat hypertension.

The sixth in the series of the CMFRI’s nutraceutical products, Cadalmin Antihypertensive extract (Cadalmin AHe) was developed from seaweeds, commonly available in the Indian coastal waters and known for their extraordinary medicinal properties. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General Trilochan Mohapatra released Cadalmin AHe, which was developed from bioactive pharmacophore leads from seaweeds, and can be administered orally to regulate hypertension.

“The extract contains 100 per cent natural marine bioactive ingredients from selected seaweeds by a patented technology, and would be made available in 400 mg capsules. This nutraceutical does not have any side effects as established by detailed preclinical trials,” said Kajal Chakraborty, Senior Scientist at the CMFRI who developed the product.

ICAR-CMFRI Director A. Gopalakrishnan said that entrepreneurs and start-ups are welcome to upscale and market this product by an expression of interest with the CMFRI. “The institute is in the process of developing more health products from the underutilized seaweeds. Efforts are on for standardizing and promoting seaweed farming all along the Indian coasts as a livelihood option for the coastal communities. This is expected to compensate for the dip in income for the fishermen during lean seasons,” he said.

The institute has already developed and commercialised natural products for diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, cholesterol and hypothyroidism.