They are the miniscule sea creatures devoured by fish, seals, penguins…and Nicole Kidman.
Now scientists have discovered that adding a krill to your meals could be the secret to the perfect weight-loss diet.
An experiment involving overweight Glaswegians found that taking supplements containing oil from the shrimp-like creatures helped the participants keep muscle mass while losing weight.
Researchers found taking a daily krill pill maintained dieters’ muscle and strength despite dramatic cuts to their food intake.
Their study – published in the journal Obesity – concludes: ‘Supplementation may offer a beneficial strategy to enhance the quality of weight loss.’
Krill are tiny crustaceans that form a vital link in the food chain, feeding on microscopic plankton and then being hoovered up themselves by fish and sea mammals.
They live in vast swarms and flourish best in the colder waters of the polar regions, also helping to slow climate change by fixing carbon in the seabed.
The blue whale lives exclusively on krill, consuming as much as four tons a day.
Scientists say adding a krill to your meals could be the secret to the perfect weight-loss diet
A daily krill pill can maintain dieters’ muscle and strength despite cuts to their food intake
But their potential value to our own health is now emerging as their oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants that can nourish the brain, heart and joints.
For the latest study – led by Dr Dalia Malkova, a senior lecturer in human nutrition – 41 middle-aged Glaswegians were chosen, all of whom were either obese or very overweight.
All went on a special weight-loss regime for two months, in which they fasted on alternate days when they consumed only 500 calories.
They also underwent physical tests of their strength both at the start and end of the trial.
Roughly half the dieters were given four krill oil capsules a day with their meals while the others were handed placebo pills containing plant-based substitutes.
After two months, participants in both groups had lost an average of ten pounds on the scales.
Nicole Kidman is the face of Swisse, a health supplement company that sells oil capsules from krill harvested in the Antarctic
She has starred in a television advert for the pills alongside the slogan: ‘Live healthy. Be happy’
But 96 per cent of the weight shed by the krill group was fat, compared with only 73 per cent in the group given a placebo.
That additional muscle retention meant those taking the supplements lost next to no hand-grip strength, even as the others weakened markedly.
And they also gained power in their legs while the placebo group showed no change.
In an added bonus, the krill-takers saw their blood pressure and markers of inflammation drop faster too.
The authors explain that weight-loss diets cause ‘reduced muscle mass, potentially leading to diminished muscle strength [and] this could have adverse effects on metabolic health.’
But the Glasgow results show that taking krill oil ‘is a valuable strategy to mitigate some of the adverse effects of diet-induced weight loss’.
Hollywood actress Kidman, 58 – who won a Best Actress Oscar for the 2002 movie The Hours – is the face of Swisse, an Australian health supplement company that sells oil capsules from krill harvested in the Antarctic.
She starred in a television advert for the pills, dancing on a beach and running into the sea, alongside the slogan: ‘Live healthy. Be happy.’
