Joanna Cosgrove09.01.08
Formulating with EFAs
It’s not easy to work with EFAs, but the health benefits delivered make it well worth the effort.
By
Joanna Cosgrove
Online Editor
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There are two groups of EFAs: omega 3 and omega 6. Omega 3 EFAs are found in foods such as flaxseed oil, avocados, wheat germ oil and fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines. Omega 6 EFAs are also derived from flaxseed oil, as well as pumpkin seeds, evening primrose oil and grapeseed oil.
EFAs—especially those that are marine-derived—are exceptionally prone to oxidation, which produces an off-putting fishy smell and taste. “Because essential fatty acids are polyunsaturated, they are susceptible to oxidation causing rapid deterioration in the presence of oxygen and metals such as copper and iron,” explained Ernesto Hernandez, PhD, director of process development, Omega Protein, Houston, TX. “Iron is a well known pro-oxidant naturally present in fish muscle.”
Oxidation as it relates to prolonged stability and extended shelf life is the primary reason why there aren’t a lot of EFA-enhanced foods outside of the beverage and dairy segment.
“EFAs are highly unsaturated,” said David Shannon, sales director of health care for Croda Inc., Edison, NJ. “They contain five to six carbon double bonds that are extremely reactive to oxygen and temperature,” he said. “Clearly the more concentrated the product, the more carbon double bonds it will have and so the more unstable it can be to work with. It’s a catch 22 situation.”
Given their propensity for oxidation, EFAs must generally be formulated via microencapsulation in an inert atmosphere. “Microencapsulation technology has helped formulators use EFAs in more widespread formulations, as this technology helps protect EFAs from oxidation during processing and in the formulation. However, it can affect their bioavailability,” said Mr. Shannon. “The key is to formulate enough EFAs into the formulation to have an effect without compromising the taste and odor of the finished product. That is why formulators are turning to concentrated fish oils, for example, where they can get away with using less oil to deliver more EPA and DHA fatty acids and still meet a recommended level for a desired effect.”
Accepting the Challenge
Despite the complexities associated with EFA formulations, mounting research has driven consumers to clamor for EFA-containing products—and manufacturers are rapidly finding ways to deliver products that are bioavailable and easy on the palate.
“Cognis helps customers overcome these [odor and flavor] issues by offering a product with a low TOTOX value (a combination of anysidine and peroxide levels which are a measure of freshness),” said Rob Bailey, marketing manager for Cognis Nutrition & Health, LaGrange, IL. To better service its functional food customers who formulate with omega 3s, Cognis partnered with WILD Flavors, Inc. of Erlanger, KY, to develop “individually customized product solutions” for great tasting foods and drinks that span a wide range of health benefits.
In related news, Cognis’ Omevital brand omega 3 fatty acid ingredient won the 2008 “Superior Taste Awards” at The International Taste & Quality Institute (iTQi) in Brussels earlier this summer. Omevital is comprised of omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA from marine sources. “Omevital fish oil is produced from carefully selected fish sources from the deep, clear waters off the coast of South America, including sardines, anchovies and mackerel,” said Mr. Bailey. “These species are characterized by especially low levels of environmental impurities.”
Three Omevital omega 3 products from Napro Pharma, a Cognis subsidiary that specializes in the manufacture of the marine sourced, health-enhancing ingredients for the nutrition industry, were recognized by iTQi.
The method by which Croda processes its EFAs revolves around its PureMax distillation process, which enables the company to concentrate EPA and DHA to high levels, while protecting the stability of the oil. “We are able to use lower temperatures than standard distillation practices so we protect the oil from thermal degradation,” said Mr. Shannon, who added that the process yields a high quality oil with “excellent stability and organoleptic properties,” giving formulators “the best chance to get high levels of EFAs into the formulation using as little oil as possible and so not affecting the taste and odor of the finished product.”
For Omega Protein, the quality and quantity of its OmegaPure fish oil, solid fat and powder boils down to constant attention. For starters, the company’s harvest is limited to a single, sustainable menhaden fish, part of the herring family, and parallels the ecological cycle to protect the natural spawning phase of menhaden. After the fish is harvested from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, it is transported in refrigerated boats to the processing plant, where it is processed with decanters and centrifuges to separate the oil. Once the fish oil is extracted, it is refined, bleached and deodorized in order to remove impurities and contaminants such as mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), dioxins and other environmental pollutants. The oil is again refined to remove mucilaginous materials and acidity, bleached to remove color and contaminants, and then steamed at high heat in a vacuum to strip “fishy” smells and any residual contaminants.
“Each step of the process is truly challenging because essential fatty acids are easily oxidized in the presence of oxygen, light and heavy metals,” said Dr. Hernandez. “To minimize deterioration, antioxidants are added and the oil is sufficiently stabilized for use in food or supplement applications.
Our refining process produces high stability products without the fish protein preventing both oxidation and allergens,” he continued. “When fish oil is incorporated into food applications, care must be taken to prevent exposure to air, heat and metals, which trigger rapid deterioration of the oil, producing the characteristic fish odor and flavor.”
Still, one of the latest groundbreaking developments pertaining to EFA formulation comes from Zymes LLC of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. The company’s Ubisol-Aqua nanoparticle technology reformulates and improves upon water-insoluble compounds, delivering improved solubility, enhanced bioavailability and particle size reduction to the nanometer level.
The technology is currently earmarked to supply EFAs for use in beverage applications, which Zymes’ Dr. Volker Berl, chief technology officer, confirmed is more challenging than EFA supplement formulation. “The real challenge relates specifically to beverage applications of EFAs, a far tougher problem than formulating EFAs into capsules, or even into foods where they can be protected from oxidation,” he said. “EFAs are lipophilic compounds and, hence, do not dissolve in water. Existing micro-emulsion technologies often generate cloudy and milky beverages that do not meet market needs for clarity in waters, juices, etc. Thus, the problem that the industry has faced is two-fold: solublization of fatty acids in water, and stability.”
Formulating clear, shelf-stable beverages with EFAs that also deliver a pleasant taste is the ultimate challenge for the industry, Dr. Berl said. “At issue is their facile oxidation, leading to unpleasant, even repugnant fishy odors and taste. Application-specific antioxidant protection, such as flavor masking and encapsulation technologies, has been partially successful at bringing EFAs into consumer products, although not insofar as the clear beverage market is concerned.”
Dr. Berl said Zymes is working on several technology licensing arrangements related to food and beverage product launches that are in their final stages. The company has also developed a clear omega 3 enhanced water beverage slated for launch in 2009. “We are currently expanding the scope of applicability of our technology to water soluble dry powder formulations of EFAs,” he concluded.
