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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Healthy Body Weight Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #276467
Title: Enhanced absorption of n-3 fatty acids from emulsified compared with encapsulated fish oil

Author
item Raatz, Susan
item BIBUS, DOUG - University Of Minnesota

Submitted to: Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2012
Publication Date: 4/29/2012
Citation: Raatz, S.K., Bibus, D.M. 2012. Enhanced absorption of n-3 fatty acids from emulsified compared with encapsulated fish oil. Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society. Abstract presentation at: American Oil Chemists’ Society Annual Meeting at 103rd AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo; April 29-May2, 2012; Long Beach CA. www.aocs.org

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The omega-3 fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have important nutrition and disease management properties. Presently fish oil (FO) supplementation relies on capsular triglyceride. Flavored emulsified lipid preparations may provide an improved approach to FO delivery. Oil in water emulsions are hypothesized to possess advantages in the digestion and absorption of their fatty acids thus increasing the bioavailability of the active components. A randomized, crossover designed study compared absorption kinetics of EPA and DHA in 10 subjects consuming 4g of FO of emulsified FO or the parent FO in capsular form. Blood was obtained at 0, 2, 4, 8, 24 and 48 hours. During this 48-hour period, there was enhanced absorption of total n-3 and EPA (0.67±0.16%, 0.45±0.06%; p<0.01; 0.34±0.05%, 0.23±0.04%; p=0.05; emulsified FO and capsular FO, respectively) observed for the emulsified FO treatment. Our findings indicate that a single dose of emulsified FO resulted in enhanced absorption of total n-3 and EPA as evidenced by changes in phospholipid fatty acid composition compared with the capsular FO during the 48-hour observation period. Oil in water emulsions are a highly bioavailable, highly tolerable method of delivery for long chain omega-3 fatty acids from FO.