Examples of potential new marine ingredients or additives

Most of the compounds within this group are typically low molecular weight substances, occurring as pure compounds or in mixtures. 

1 Antioxidants. Marine lipids contain a large proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly of the n-3 type, many of which have the pentadiene double-bond structure in their hydrocarbon chain. This makes the lipids very likely to oxidise. The living organisms must therefore have mechanisms for preventing oxidation. Various antioxidants occur, of which the tocopherols are among the most well known. In addition, ubiquinone or coenzyme Qio should be considered (Frei et al., 1990). Its mechanism of preventing oxidation is different from other antioxidants (Beyer, 1990). The most recent literature points to a mechanism in which coenzyme Qio is most effectively used in combination with vitamin C (Lambelet et al., 1992). 

In addition to the direct antioxidant property, it is anticipated to have beneficial effects in human nutrition. Although this latter aspect is to some extent disputed, the idea is still valid to use a natural ingredient as a substitute for a synthetic chemical component that would otherwise be applied. 

It should, however, be mentioned, that the physical processes required to extract the ubiquinone in pure form from marine oils may include techniques such as supercritical extraction, making the product very expensive. It may thus be possible to produce the component cheaper from other sources or by other production principles however, naturally 

It may be that the medical effect of these compounds should be investigated more closely before they are applied in foods however, it would be of general interest to find the mechanisms for antioxidative effects of the polyamines, as this could help us develop new and better naturally occurring antioxidants to be used in foods. 

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