Natural remedy for fatty liver disease found, claims CMFRI 

KOCHI 

Continuing its research on developing natural remedies from marine organisms against lifestyle diseases, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Tuesday claimed it had developed a nutraceutical product from select seaweeds to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).  

Named Cadalmin TM LivCure extract, the product is a blend of 100% natural bioactive ingredients extracted from seaweed with an eco-friendly green technology to improve liver health, according to a press release from the CMFRI. 

This is the ninth such product from marine organisms developed by the CMFRI which had previously brought out nutraceuticals to combat a series of lifestyle diseases, such as Type-2 diabetes, arthritis, cholesterol, hypertension, hypothyroidism, and osteoporosis, and to improve immunity. Out of these nutraceuticals, eight products are from seaweed and one from green mussel, the release said.

Dr. Kajal Chakraborty, Principal Scientist at the Marine Biotechnology, Fish Nutrition and Health Division of the CMFRI, led the research works to develop the product. He said bioactive pharmacophore leads from seaweeds were used to develop the nutraceutical product. 

“Pre-clinical trials showed that LivCure extract proved to have the potential to inhibit different enzymes and various target receptors associated with dyslipidemia and pathophysiology leading to NAFLD. This helps improve liver health, reduce the disposition of fatty substances, and maintain other liver/lipid parameters within the clinically acceptable limits,” he added. 

The nutraceutical does not have any side effects as established by detailed preclinical trials. “It has proved that long-term oral administration of this product will not lead to general organ or systemic toxicity,” Dr. Chakraborty added. The technology will be out-licensed soon to those in the pharmaceutical industry for commercial production of the nutraceutical. 

For the past few years, the CMFRI has intensively focused on research on seaweed mainly for developing natural products beneficial to improving human health, said Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan, Director, CMFRI.