Omega-3 alternatives

Long chain fatty acids found in oily fish are recognised as the most beneficial form of omega-3, but it has been well publicised that consumers aren't eating enough. To solve the problem, scientists have been looking at new ways of increasing the uptake of EPA and DHA long chain fatty acids.

The assumption has been that after consuming short chain omega-3 fatty acids derived from plants, the body will convert them into long chain, but this process has a low efficiency rate, especially in men, says Reading University's professor of animal science Ian Givens.

The only practical way of ensuring that you get the long chain fatty acids is to eat a source that contains them, he says. "Dairy Crest had to take quite a bit of stick for it's omega-3 enriched St Ivel Advance milk, but people aren't aware of how far behind we are in meeting recommended daily amounts of omega-3. It's a good thing to enrich milk."

Givens has been looking at the possibility of enriching staple foods such as poultry with long chain omega-3, by feeding chickens fish oils. Although the body's absorption of fatty acids from enriched poultry has not yet been tested, he believes that the overall evidence implies that they would be successfully absorbed.

However, fish oils are not a sustainable resource and much effort is going into finding alternative sources. Fish rely on algae to get their omega-3 and there's interest in whether microalgae can be used, he says. "Marine technology supplier Martek's microalgae-derived DHA is currently being added to infant formulas, but isn't used widely because it's expensive," claims Givens. "That's not to say that longer term it might become cheaper."

Efforts are also being made, as part of the European Commission backed Lipgene project, to modify plants so they produce long chain fatty acids, though this is quite a long way off from industrial use, says Givens.

The decreasing availability of long chain omega-3 hasn't been a problem for manufacturers yet, but the price of fish oil is going up, he cites.

Givens' work on increasing the uptake of omega-3 should be completed in three years.