Fish skin may be the safest and most effective way of treating severe burns. Exposing burns to the skin of Atlantic cod seems to result in patients spending less time in hospital and experiencing fewer complications compared with other treatments. This may be due to cod skin containing omega-3 fatty acids that trigger just the right amount of inflammation to assist the healing process.
Severe cases are often treated with grafts, where healthy skin is taken from one part of the body and moved to cover or replace skin that is damaged or missing. Humans evolved to survive mild burns at the expense of severe ones Prior to graft surgery, many patients undergo temporary wound coverage to prepare the area and manage infection risk. This can involve applying synthetic or biosynthetic scaffolds made up of collagen, the most abundant protein in skin.
But an Icelandic company called Kerecis manufactures products made from wild Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), which are approved to treat burns and other wounds in the US and the UK. To compare these approaches, Lantis and his colleagues used data from 471 adults who attended 49 burn centres between 2019 and 2025. All the adults had moderately sized burns affecting 13 per cent of their body, on average.
Most of the burns were either mixed – affecting multiple layers of the skin – or third-degree, in which the outer and middle layers of the skin are destroyed, with no sensation in the area. The underlying bones, muscles and tendons are sometimes also affected. Prior to undergoing a skin graft, 99 of these patients were treated with GraftGuide, a minimally processed intact fish skin from Kerecis, which funded the study but didn’t analyse the data.
The remaining patients received approved synthetic substitutes. The two groups were matched for factors like age, sex, burn severity and size, and any other complications from the injury. The researchers found that the individuals treated with GraftGuide spent 12 fewer days in hospital, on average, than those who got synthetic substitutes, with the former group being discharged after an average of 23 days and the latter after an average of 35.
What’s more, rates of complications were twice as high in the synthetic-substitute group, with 16 per cent experiencing issues like sepsis, compared with 8 per cent who received GraftGuide. How much sunscreen should you be using, when should you apply it, and are there any downsides to doing so? Skin cancer expert Rachel Neale is here to answer all of these questions and more Atlantic cod naturally contains collagen and omega-3 fatty acids.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
