Astaxanthin and omega-3-rich oil from fermented Acetes (Cincalok) and its application as bioactive additive and sunscreen in lotion

Shrimp species have been reported to contain astaxanthin, which has high antioxidant activities. They also contain omega-3 in the form of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which can act as photoprotective agents that maintain healthy skin from reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to exposure to UV rays. In addition, fermentation has become an essential pre-treatment to extract the bioactive components in shrimp more easily. This study aims to extract oil from cincalok, a traditional Indonesian (especially in West Kalimantan) food made from Acetes shrimp fermented for 7–15 days. Cincalok oil was added to the lotion as a bioactive additive and sunscreen. Cincalok oil was extracted by the soxhletation method using n-hexane as solvent. The oil was then analyzed for its physicochemical properties, including density, viscosity, possible heavy metal contamination, and the profile of the fatty acids contained. The yield of cincalok oil extraction was 1.09 ± 0.05%, with the highest fatty acid content of 21.70% palmitic acid, 10.99% DHA, and 10.33% EPA. Cincalok oil also contains astaxanthin of 0.38 ± 0.02 mg/L oil. It has a viscosity of 69.71 ± 0.12 cP with a density of 0.93 ± 0.03 g/cm3. The analysis data of ICP-AES shows that there is no heavy metal contamination. The SPF value produced from cincalok oil lotion at 5 and 10% variations of cincalok oil was 15.17 ± 0.09 and 30.28 ± 0.49, respectively. The SPF value of lotion with the addition of cincalok oil was much greater than that of the base lotion, which was 2.16 ± 0.12.