Adding UVB and heat to fish waste found to produce Vitamin D – April 2024

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From 7-dehydrocholesterol to vitamin D3: Optimization of UV conversion procedures toward the valorization of fish waste matrices

Food Chemistry: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fochx.2024.101373
Yue Sun 1, Laura Alessandroni 1, Simone Angeloni, Erika Del Bianco, Gianni Sagratini

Highlights

• Fish can be considered good sources of 7-dehydrocholesterol, the vitamin D3 precursor.
• Optimization of 7-dehydrocholesterol to vitamin D3 UV conversion method.
• The most performing UV treatment was applied to five different fish species.
• The optimized method significantly increased the vitamin D3 content in the fishes.
• Reuse of fish waste as a vitamin D3 source, reducing environmental impact.

Vitamin D, a fat-soluble steroid, has increasingly taken a central role due to its crucial role in human health. It is estimated that about 40% of worldwide population are vitamin D deficient.

The fish industry produces significant quantities of waste daily, with consequent high environmental impact. The aim of this work is to place a first brick for the fish waste reuse as a source of vitamin D3 extracts to be used for nutraceutical purposes. For this purpose, an UV conversion method for transforming the 7-dehydrocholesterol, highly present in fish, in vitamin D3 has been optimized. The UV wavelength, exposure time, temperature, stirring, and UV intensity were optimized using a surface response design tool.

The optimized treatment was applied to five fish species with different fat percentages and the results were very promising reaching vitamin D3 levels >10 times higher than the pre-treatment ones.
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Comment by VitaminDWiki

This initial proof of concept looks promising.
Perhaps it only works on the skin of the fish (where the pre-cursor should be), not the entire fish body
Suspect that UVB penetrates only a few millimeters into the fish waste
Suspect more pre-cursor in fish that are near the surface (makes no sense for fish to produce it if it is never used)
Expect that FAR MORE Vitamin D will be produced when UVB can shine on more of the fish (stirred fish meal?)

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See also in VitaminDWiki - How vitamin D is made from sheep wool - Feb 2011

Cholesterol from wool ==> pre-vitamin D then add UVB ==> Vitamin D