It’s only been a few years since I’ve explored the addition of a more diverse range of marine life into my nutrition regimen. If I knew back then what I knew today, I would have been consuming this stuff as a child, especially oysters.
In this article, we’ll review a Pubmed review of bioactive compounds in the tissue and shells of oysters. I won’t cover the entire review because it’s extensive, but you’ll come out of this with some incredible research on oysters themselves.
I refer to oysters as the “beef liver of the sea” because of their nutrient density and power. They taste delicious. Only a few per week go a long way to making sure that you’re on top of macro and micronutrient needs.
Oysters are saltwater bivalves with high nutritional and medicinal value that are consumed widely around the world. There is a long list of properties to them:
The various biological compounds present in an oyster shell, and their chemical constituents, have applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and medical industries.
Bioactive peptides and proteins obtained from the whole, mantle, and gill tissues of oysters exhibit antioxidant, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, anticancer, anti-fatigue, anticoagulant, and anti-wrinkle effects, as well as enhance osteoblast differentiation.
It’s shocking how much nutrition can be packed into one small vessel, and it falls perfectly in line with the pareto principle. This is truly a 95/5 food where 95% of nutritional benefit can be acquired from a single food.
Oyster protein can be defragmented into a large number of peptides with high bioactivity. Recently, oyster protein hydrolysates (OPHs) and peptides have attracted attention due to their stability and diverse biological activities.
Oyster protein can even lower blood pressure and triglycerides.
They’re rich in selenium, which supports a number of cellular functions including heavy metal detoxification. Heavy metal toxicity in marine life is a big concern for people, but they fail to understand that DHA and EPA are crucial in addition to the fact that selenium directly aids in heavy metal detox.
Additionally, oyster soft tissue has a higher zinc (Zn) content than most seafood out there. This is one of the reasons why it’s a powerful aphrodisiac.
The oyster shell is an aspect of this discussion that doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
The oyster shell comprises an organic matrix and minerals that protect soft tissue. The shell accounts for about 60% of the total oyster weight. Oyster shells mainly consist of calcium carbonate (CaCO3; ∼95%) in addition to a small proportion of organic matrix proteins (∼0.1–5%), which are also called skeleton/shell proteins.
We cannot forget about the holy grail here though.. the oyster meat.
Antioxidant properties: Oyster peptides exhibit significant antioxidant activity, and several bioactive peptides have been purified from oyster tissue via enzymatic degradation. A study on OPs isolated from Ostrea plicatula meat using neutral proteinase reported scavenging effects against hydroxyl radicals and superoxide anion radicals.
Anti-microbial properties: Oyster blood cells, gills, and mantle tissue contain abundant antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Some studies have shown that the oyster protein peptides LLEYSI and LLEYSL inhibit HIV-1 protease, which is a crucial enzyme for viral maturation and a major target of HIV-1 treatment.
Antihypertensive properties: ACE-inhibitory peptides derived from oysters exert significant antihypertensive effects. Oyster extracts containing low-molecular-weight Ops were also found to inhibit ACE and reduce systolic blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
Anti-inflammatory properties: YA, a multifunctional oyster-derived peptide, exhibits anti-inflammatory activity. Oyster-derived β-thymosin, a ubiquitous, low-molecular-weight polypeptide, inhibited NO production in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells to the same extent as human β-thymosin. Oyster β-thymosin also inhibited the expression of inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, and suppressed the nuclear translocation of phosphorylated NF-κB and the degradation of inhibitory κB in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells.
Anticoagulant properties: The antithrombotic peptides DFEEIPEEYLQ and LSKEEIEEAKEV were isolated from oysters, with the former exhibiting thrombin-inhibiting activity including prolongation of partial thromboplastin and thrombin times.
Anticancer properties: Recent studies have demonstrated that bioactive peptides from marine organisms, such as fish and mussels, inhibit cancer cell growth while being of low toxicity.
All of this to say that you should be eating more oysters.
You don’t need to go overboard with consumption.
Even 2-3 per week in my opinion has incredible upside.
I haven’t enough enough oysters in one sitting to become sick, since I know this is a potential concern. I think it’s important to source your oysters from places that have high standards. If you can get them local, that’s ideal.
If you’ve noticed benefit from regularly consuming oysters, let me know down in the comments what you specifically noticed.
Much love,
Zaid