The scientific name of DHA is docosahexaenoic acid. It is an important component of the cerebral cortex, central nervous system and retina. The level of DHA in the body will directly affect the proliferation of brain cells, nerve conduction, and the growth and development of synapses.
If infants and young children lack DHA during their growth stage, the development process of infants and young children and retina will be slow or blocked, resulting in mental retardation and visual impairment. The content of DHA in optic nerve cells and retinal tissue is as high as 50%, which has a good retinal protection effect. If there is a long-term lack of DHA in food, the DHA content in retinal tissue will decrease,dha algal oil powder eventually leading to decreased vision. The health care effect of DHA on vision is particularly evident in the fetus and infant period. If the accumulation of DHA in retinal cells is insufficient, it will lead to a decrease in the sensitivity of the optic nerve system and a decrease in vision.
The source of DHA in the body is the precursor fatty acid α-linolenic acid. After α-linolenic acid enters the human body, it is derived into DHA through carbon chain growth and the action of desaturase. DHA can also be obtained directly from certain foods. Deep-sea fish oil and algae are the main sources of DHA.
Fish oil DHA: However, with the overfishing of fish, global fishery resources are becoming increasingly scarce, so there are some problems in obtaining DHA from fish oil: the DHA extracted from fish oil has a high cholesterol content and a fishy smell, which seriously affects the quality of DHA. DHA extracted from fish oil is not suitable for vegetarians. In addition, a large amount of organic pollutants accumulate in fish fat. Therefore, the DHA extracted and separated from fish oil cannot meet the needs of society in terms of quantity and quality. In addition, there is a certain difficulty in purifying DHA in fish oil. Finding safer and more reliable raw material sources to extract biological resources for DHA has attracted widespread attention from scholars at home and abroad.
Algal oil DHA: With the continuous deepening of DHA research, it is found that many microalgae and fungi in the ocean can synthesize DHA by themselves, and their relative DHA content is much higher than that of fish oil. Studies have found that DHA is rich in thraustochytrids and schizochytrids in microalgae such as golden algae, dinoflagellates, cryptophytes, diatoms, and fungi in the ocean, and mainly exists in the form of storage oil and membrane lipids. The production of DHA by fungal fermentation can artificially control the influencing factors, can stably produce DHA, and maintain its yield and content. In addition, DHA produced by fungal fermentation generally contains a small amount of other polyunsaturated fatty acids, which is conducive to the separation and concentration of DHA and the preparation of high-purity DHA.
