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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #314562
Title: New methods and antioxidants to prevent oxidation of omega-3 oil supplements

Author
item FHANER, MATTHEW - Former ARS Employee
item Hwang, Hong-Sik
item Moser, Jill
item Bakota, Erica
item Liu, Sean

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/16/2015
Publication Date: 8/20/2015
Citation: Fhaner, M.J., Hwang, H., Moser, J.K., Bakota, E.L., Liu, S.X. 2015. New methods and antioxidants to prevent oxidation of omega-3 oil supplements [abstract]. American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Omega-3 oils have gained much attention recently due to their beneficial health effects. However, their polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) are so prone to oxidation in the presence of oxygen, heat, light, and metal ions that a strong antioxidant is needed to prevent oxidation during manufacturing processes, transportation, and storage. Oxidation of PUFAs occurs even in our body and, therefore, the intake of antioxidants along with omega-3 oil rich diet is suggested to overcome the oxidative stress caused by PUFAs. As our continuing effort to discover effective antioxidants for omega-3 oil, we have examined two natural antioxidants, sesamol and gamma-oryzanol for their antioxidant activities and compared with a synthetic antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and a commercial natural antioxidant, rosemary extract. While gamma-oryzanol did not show an impressive antioxidant effect, sesamol was found to be a very strong antioxidant, stronger than BHT. Compared to the commercial antioxidant, rosemary extract, sesamol showed higher antioxidant activity at 8.4 mM due to its higher solubility in oil. Another technique to prevent oxidation of omerga-3 oil in which flowability of oil is reduced by organogelation method will be discussed. Plant waxes added in oil as organogelators could effectively reduce oxidation rate of omega-3 oil.