Traditional Therapeutic Uses of Marine Animal Parts and Derived Products as Functional Foods – A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

The faunatic world represents an untapped potential reservoir for both food and medicine. A plethora of uses that humans have exploited since time immemorial to counter sufferings and deficiency diseases. This study aims to systematically review the scientific literature for the last 10 years and highlight the therapeutic uses of marine animal and animal products used globally. A total of 159 marine animals were documented comprising of 305 traditional uses. Marine animals of the Actinopterygii class were the most used against ailments. From the study, it was observed that a single aquatic animal could be used for treating and/or managing multiple ailments and at the same an ailment could be addressed by several marine animals and animal-derived products. The latter were mostly consumed cooked and the mode of administration varies depending on their origin. Although a panoply of traditional uses of marine animal and animal products exists, a dearth of validated pharmacological studies was observed to support the functional and medical uses of such products. This calls out researchers to address this gap as the exploration of marine faunatic resources, which could provide sustainable solution to many current health and wellness challenges.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Therapeutic uses
• animal
• animal products
• zootherapy
• functional food

Author contributions

“Conceptualization, M.F.M. and D.A.S; methodology, M.F.M and D.A.S.; software, D.A.S.; validation, G.Z.; formal analysis, G.Z.; investigation, M.F.M. and D.A.S.; resources, M.F.M.; data curation, G.Z.; writing—original draft preparation, M.F.M and D.A.S.; writing—review and editing, G.Z.; visualization,D.A.S.; supervision, M.F.M.; project administration, M.G. and D.M.; funding acquisition, M.G., and D.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Highlights

Animal products contain bioactive metabolites with possible therapeutic applications.

Zootherapy or zoopharmacology uses animal and animal-derived products as medicine.

Marine wildlife resources could provide a sustainable solution to many current health challenges.

Few uses of aquatic animals were validated by pharmacological studies.

Overview of therapeutic uses of marine animals and animal products used globally.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding;The authors have no funding to report;