Green-lipped mussel extracts: Be aware of what you buy?

Associate Professor Alexander Tups

Department of Physiology and Centre for Neuroendocrinology, Otago School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago

The green-lipped mussel is indigenous to New Zealand and has been part of the diet of indigenous Māori people for hundreds of years. Coastal Māori communities who consumed green-lipped mussel had lower incidences of arthritis compared to communities that lived away from the coast. The greenlipped mussel contains a unique composition of marine lipids (1). It is those lipids that have been extensively studied to convey numerous health benefits predominantly the ability to reduce inflammation, a hallmark for many Western Diseases. Green-lipped mussels have a very high content of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, predominantly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) but also many very rare marine lipids that are not found in most fish (1).

Docosahexaenoic acid is the best studied omega-3 fatty acid and is important for healthy brain function (2). Reduced DHA levels during brain development are associated with severe cognitive deficits and mood disorders (3). Docosahexaenoic acid levels are reduced in brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients (4) and omega 3 fatty acids in conjunction with carotenoids and Vitamin E have a positive effect on the progression of cognitive decline (5). Associations of omega-3 fatty acids have also been found to heart, joint and -immune function (6-8). We recently found that green-lipped mussel oil was superior to fish-oil (hoki) in terms of weight reduction in mice suggesting that either the much higher content of DHA and EPA or the unique composition of fatty acids in the oily fraction of the green-lipped mussel extract may lead to the observed weight reducing effect (9).

Green lipped mussels are mostly sold as food or high value nutritional products such as oil extracts or freeze-dried whole mussel powder. Over the last 50 years over 170 publications on the therapeutic effects of green-lipped mussels in humans and animals have been written using high quality greenlipped mussel powder or oil enriched in the lipids specific to the green-lipped mussel. Most of them attribute the health benefit of green-lipped mussels to the high lipid content and while the oil extract was used in many human studies most veterinary trials used whole, green-lipped mussel powder (10). These studies showed that addition of green-lipped mussel powder to animal diets improved arthritis symptoms in cats and chronic orthopaedic pain in dogs (10). One blinded randomized controlled study in cats could show that a diet high in DHA, EPA and green-lipped mussel powder improved objective measures of mobility (11). Interestingly, in cats with improved mobility increased levels of DHA and EPA in the blood plasma were found. Taken together the current scientific evidence suggests that DHA and EPA are important bioactives in green-lipped mussel products but studies evaluating the role other potential bioactives such as carotenoids and proteins and their combined health effects are still missing.

While a product like GlycOmega?-Oil contains the highest concentration of lipids also the high-quality, green-lipped mussel powder products GlycOmega?, GlycOmega?-Plus and Biolane? retain omega 3 fatty acids during the production process. Biolane? is on the market for over 45 years and in a randomised and double-blinded, multi-centre clinical trial in horses it was shown that Biolane? reduced lameness and improved other symptoms of osteoarthritis (12).

Some commercially available, green-lipped mussel products are a defatted version of whole, greenlipped mussel powder in which the oil (rich in omega 3 fatty acids) is extracted for human consumption. This product does not contain high quantities of the bioactive fatty acids and to the authors knowledge has not been extensively tested and validated in veterinary or human trials.

As a consumer one should be aware that when purchasing such a product that it may have a very low content of omega 3 fatty acids, the active ingredients for which we have the most solid scientific evidence supporting the use of green-lipped mussel products.

References

1. Miller, M. R., Pearce, L., and Bettjeman, B. I. (2014) Detailed distribution of lipids in Greenshell mussel (Perna canaliculus). Nutrients 6, 1454-1474

2. Loehfelm, A., Elder, M. K., Boucsein, A., Jones, P. P., Williams, J. M., and Tups, A. (2020) Docosahexaenoic acid prevents palmitate-induced insulin-dependent impairments of neuronal health. FASEB J 34, 4635-4652

3. Lafourcade, M., Larrieu, T., Mato, S., Duffaud, A., Sepers, M., Matias, I., De Smedt-Peyrusse, V., Labrousse, V. F., Bretillon, L., Matute, C., Rodriguez-Puertas, R., Laye, S., and Manzoni, O. J. (2011) Nutritional omega-3 deficiency abolishes endocannabinoid-mediated neuronal functions. Nat Neurosci 14, 345-350

4. Cunnane, S. C., Plourde, M., Pifferi, F., Begin, M., Feart, C., and Barberger-Gateau, P. (2009) Fish, docosahexaenoic acid and Alzheimer's disease. Prog Lipid Res 48, 239-256

5. Nolan, J. M., Power, R., Howard, A. N., Bergin, P., Roche, W., Prado-Cabrero, A., Pope, G., Cooke, J., Power, T., and Mulcahy, R. (2022) Supplementation With Carotenoids, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, and Vitamin E Has a Positive Effect on the Symptoms and Progression of Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 90, 233-249

6. Cordingley, D. M., and Cornish, S. M. (2022) Omega-3 Fatty Acids for the Management of Osteoarthritis: A Narrative Review. Nutrients 14

7. Eggersdorfer, M., Berger, M. M., Calder, P. C., Gombart, A. F., Ho, E., Laviano, A., and Meydani, S. N. (2022) Perspective: Role of Micronutrients and Omega-3 Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids for Immune Outcomes of Relevance to Infections in Older Adults-A Narrative Review and Call for Action. Adv Nutr 13, 1415-1430

8. Oppedisano, F., Mollace, R., Tavernese, A., Gliozzi, M., Musolino, V., Macri, R., Carresi, C., Maiuolo, J., Serra, M., Cardamone, A., Volterrani, M., and Mollace, V. (2021) PUFA Supplementation and Heart Failure: Effects on Fibrosis and Cardiac Remodeling. Nutrients 13

9. Loehfelm, A., Rizwan, M. Z., and Tups, A. (2021) A New Zealand green-lipped mussel oilenriched high-fat diet exhibits beneficial effects on body weight and metabolism in mice. Br J Nutr 125, 972-982

10. Eason, C. T., Adams, S. L., Puddick, J., Romanazzi, D., Miller, M. R., King, N., Johns, S., ForbesBlom, E., Hessian, P. A., Stamp, L. K., and Packer, M. A. (2018) Greenshell Mussels: A Review of Veterinary Trials and Future Research Directions. Vet Sci 5

11. Lascelles, B. D., DePuy, V., Thomson, A., Hansen, B., Marcellin-Little, D. J., Biourge, V., and Bauer, J. E. (2010) Evaluation of a therapeutic diet for feline degenerative joint disease. J Vet Intern Med 24, 487-495

12. Cayzer, J., Hedderley, D., and Gray, S. (2012) A randomised, double-blinded, placebocontrolled study on the efficacy of a unique extract of green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) in horses with chronic fetlock lameness attributed to osteoarthritis. Equine Vet J 44, 393-398