WorldFish

Abstract Utilizing fish byproducts is a strategic focus on reducing waste from fish processing, garnering significant global attention from researchers and fish processors aiming for sustainable practices in line with Sustainable Development Goal 12 by 2030. One highly effective approach involves converting these byproducts into valuable commodities, such as collagen and its hydrolysates. Collagen is an important protein in living organisms that serves as fibrous structural component in the extracellular matrix. Over the last decade, fish collagen has gained interest due to its superior physicochemical properties, biocompatibility, biodegradability, safety, and high absorption by the human body. These attributes make fish collagen a promising area of research, particularly for wound healing applications. This review covers the extraction procedures and characteristics of collagen derived from fish byproducts, providing a comprehensive overview of the methods used to obtain high-quality collagen. Additionally, it highlights recent research progress on the use of collagen as a wound healing agent, evaluated through both in vitro and in vivo studies. The review also addresses the challenges associated with applying collagen for wound healing, such as optimizing extraction methods, ensuring consistent quality, and overcoming potential regulatory hurdles. Furthermore, it presents a future perspective on the potential of fish collagen as an efficient and effective wound healing product, emphasizing its role in advancing biomedical research and applications. By offering new insights and stimulating further development in the utilization of fish collagen, this review aims to contribute to waste reduction in fish processing and enhance the economic value of byproducts. Thus, fish collagen holds significant promise as a sustainable and innovative solution in the biomedical field, aligning with global efforts to achieve sustainability and improve human health.

Women’s empowerment in aquatic food systems plays a critical role in increasing production and ensuring food and nutrition security. This study used qualitative data from a mixed-method study to assess whether participation in a nutrition-sensitive homestead pond polyculture systems, targeting both women and men, strengthens women’s decision-making power in fish culture, harvesting, and household food purchase. The project promoted pond polyculture technology of nutrient-rich small and large fish species, which was adopted by the majority of project households (86.3%). Fish harvesting for family consumption and sale was more frequent in project households (24% twice/week; 54.9% once/year) compared to non-project households (13%; 47.8%). Joint decision-making by both women and men on the types of fish species to culture (80.39%) and harvesting time for sale (54.9%) was more common in project households, compared to non-project households (43.48% and 21.74%, respectively). More women in project households (41.2%) decided which fish species to harvest for family consumption, including harvested fish for family consumption (7.8%) and sale (3.9%), compared to non-project households (26.1%, 4.4% and none respectively). The findings reveal three interlinked empowerment pathways: the consumption pathway, via frequent fish harvesting, the income pathway, through fish sales, and the empowerment pathway, through enhanced decision making.

While increasing seafood consumption may help address micronutrient deficiencies and metabolic disorders, evidence supporting this recommendation in the Indian context remains limited and inconclusive. Using the nationally representative cross-sectional 2019-2021 National Family Health Survey dataset, we investigated the association of fish consumption frequency with anaemia and metabolic disorders (overweight/obesity, hypertension and hyperglycaemia) among adult men (aged 15-54 years) and women (aged 15-49 years) in India. A control function (CF) method was employed to examine the association in individuals who consumed fish daily and those who reported consuming fish daily/weekly. The analysis was restricted to non-vegetarians (who reported ever consuming egg, fish or meat). Overall, 86·9 % of men and 74·7 % of women were non-vegetarians. CF analysis revealed that both daily and daily/weekly fish consumption were associated with a reduced risk of anaemia among both men and women. Daily fish consumers exhibited increased likelihood of overweight/obesity (men: β: 0·405, 95 % CI: 0·074, 0·735, P: 0·017; women: β: 0·248, 95 % CI 0·125, 0·370, P < 0·001). Conversely, daily/weekly fish intake was associated with a reduced risk of overweight/obesity in men (β: -0·041, 95 % CI: -0·069, -0·013; P: 0·004). Daily/weekly fish consumption was associated with a reduced risk of hypertension and increased odds of hyperglycaemia among men. Fish consumption demonstrated a potentially protective relationship against hypertension in women, regardless of how often they consumed fish, while also being associated with a higher prevalence of hyperglycaemia. Indian adults can improve their health by eating more fish, which can help fight anaemia and may also reduce overweight/obesity and high blood pressure.