The potential benefits to the human reproductive health of oyster serum and extracts from seahorse-derived hydrolysates, saponins, steroids, oligopeptides, and essential trace elements from other animals including sea cucumber and spoon worms are not completely known.
In a new article published in Frontiers in Marine Science, researchers from Flinders University’s Centre for Marine Bioproducts Development expanded their commentary on the potential of bioactive compounds from marine organisms in addressing human reproductive concerns.
Reproductive and sexual health problems trouble a large proportion of the world population. There is increasing attention toward human reproductive health issues including infertility and sexual dysfunction.
Making Way For New Fertility Treatment
Compared to the discovery of bioactive marine compounds for helping people with high-value functional foods, few marine organisms have been studied or put to the test in clinical trials for their potential as treatments for human reproductive health.
While a few species and potent bioactive extracts or compounds have been identified in in-vivo animal studies, there are limited human clinical trials on their efficacy and safety.
In the future, researchers recommend focusing on filling these research gaps and on finding breeding and culturing technology to establish cost-effective, scalable, and sustainable bioactive compound production for marine bioactive shown to improve infertility, hormonal imbalance, sexual dysfunction, or impotence.
Source: Medindia