Krill are toothpick-sized; shrimp like crustaceans found in all the world’s oceans: and they are plentiful. One species (Antarctic krill) in just the Southern Ocean has a biomass of over 500 million tons or about twice that of humans the world over. (Krill have the largest animal biomass on the planet.) Krill cannot be farmed, only caught in the wild. About 200,000 tons per year come out of the Scotia Sea around Antarctica. The world’s northern seas are estimated to also have 500 million tons: about 110,000 tons are harvested annually.
Weighing in at around 240,000pounds with a heart the size of a Volkswagen, the blue whale eats up to 40 million krill a day to keep the ol’ tummy full.
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Health Benefits
Krill are low in fat, extremely high in protein, chock full of omega-3s (including DHA and EPA), plus they have astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant. Fish in the salon family have a small amount of astaxanthin (it’s what makes their flesh pink), but krill have it in much greater concentrations.
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The health benefits of omega – 3s are pretty well-known by now (they reduce inflammation, lower triglycerides, lower heart disease risk, reduce joint stiffness and pain for those with rheumatoid arthritis, and fight depression), but astaxanthin has not been studied to the same degree. Animal studies suggest that it helps protect cells and boost immunity, lowers blood pressure, and increases insulin sensitivity. Researcher have found that in humans astaxanthin protects from sun damage, helps with stress management and muscle function, and also helps prevent neurode-generative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Research indicates that the omega-3 in krill oil is more bioavailable than that in fish. Michael Eades, MD, writes,”in fish oil, these omegas -3 fatty acids are found in triglycerode form, whereas in krill oil they are hooked up in a double chain phospholipids structure. The fats in our own cells walls are in the phospholipids form…. The antioxidant potency of krill oil is such that when compared to fish oil in terms of ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) values, in was found to be 48 times more potent than fish oil.”
And if that wasn’t enough, eating krill works around one of the main concerns with seafood, namely, mercury. The mercury risk gets more severe the higher up the food chain you go: whereas swordfish and sharks have mercury levels of about one ppm, shrimp have .001 and krill, being substantially smaller than shrimp would have even less.
Most krill consumed in the US comes in the form of krill oil supplements, which are an excellent alternative to fish oil. Due to the molecular structure, krill oil naturally takes longer to break down; making it easier to work with and more likely that you won’t get a bad batch. And the risk of mercury contamination is virtually nonexistent.
There are those who have expressed concern about over fishing krill, but it seems we’re a long way from that. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (with the tongue-twisting acronym CCAMLR) has put a cap on the harvest at five million tons, of which we harvest a small fraction. At this point, there’s no reason to worry about the global supply. From the magazine natural solutions Article: The Whales were onto something by Adam Swenson
P.S. In the same issue we found a article on benefits of omega 3 besides cardiovascular disease to omega 3 has been show to improve visual acuity; improve cognitive function and reduce dementia; reduce inflammation and perhaps some types of cancer, such as colon cancer; and reduce total mortality
