Boarfish (Capros aper) is an underutilised pelagic fish species found in abundance in Irish waters(Reference Egerton, Culloty and Whooley1). Boarfish is a potential source of unique uncharacterised proteins. Research previously undertaken has shown a favourable effect of fish derived protein hydrolysate consumption on glycaemic control in diabetic murine models(Reference Harnedy, Parthsarathy and McLaughlin2). This study aims to investigate the effect of daily boarfish protein hydrolysate (BFH) consumption on glycated haemoglobin and body mass index (BMI) in overweight human participants.
A randomised parallel placebo-controlled human intervention study was undertaken to investigate the effect of consuming BFH for 12 weeks. Participants (n = 40) that met the following inclusion criteria were recruited; aged between 18–65 years, non-smoker, not currently pregnant or lactating, BMI > 25·0 kg/m2 and, free from chronic illness. Participants were randomly assigned to consume either 3·5 g/day of BFH or 3·5 g of cellulose. Measures taken at baseline and post-intervention (week 12) include: height and weight, fasting glycated haemoglobin, glucose, insulin, leptin, glucagon like peptide (GLP-1), adiponectin and lipid profile. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) controlling for baseline values as well as other covariates (age & BMI), was used to compare differences between groups over time.
Compliance was reported as 95%. The BFH had no significant effect on any of the markers when compared with control. Although an equivalent dose of BFH demonstrated anti-diabetic properties in murine models, the same effects were not observed in humans and a larger dose may be required.
BMI; body mass index, HDL; high density lipoprotein, LDL; low density lipoprotein, SD; standard deviation, TP; timepoint. P values are generated using ANCOVA assessing the mean difference between TP2 variables of the control group, and TP2 variables of the treatment group, with TP1 variables as the covariate.