Charlotte Jacobsen

Stabilization of omega-3 oils and enriched foods using antioxidants

Abstract: Foods enriched with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are highly susceptible to lipid oxidation due to their high degree of unsaturation. Addition of antioxidants is therefore often necessary in order to prevent oxidation. However, antioxidant efficacy is not easy to predict in complex food systems as it is influenced by many different factors. This chapter will briefly discuss the major factors influencing antioxidant efficacy in heterophasic food systems enriched with omega-3 fatty acids. Moreover, the efficacy of different antioxidants in a range of different omega-3 enriched foods will be reviewed.

Using polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) as functional ingredients.

Publisher Summary There has been an increasing interest in Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids [“PUFAs”] for food, nutritional, and pharmaceutical applications. This is due to the increasing evidence that PUFAs have a wide range of nutritional benefits in the human body. The main problem in relation to the use of n-3 PUFA in pharmaceutical and food applications is their susceptibility to lipid oxidation. Traditionally, the industry has mainly used free radical chain-breaking synthetic antioxidants for the prevention of oxidation in foods. However, this strategy seems to be less efficient in preventing lipid oxidation in emulsified food systems enriched with n-3 PUFA. With the increased understanding of the important role of trace metals, emulsifiers, and processing conditions in the lipid oxidation processes, more efforts would be dedicated to use this knowledge to develop alternative strategies to retard lipid oxidation in real foods with n-3 PUFA oils. One such strategy might be an increased use of both synthetic and natural metal chelators. Another strategy may be to design oxidatively stable oil-in-water emulsion delivery systems for each particular food system.

Enrichment of emulsified foods with omega-3 fatty acids.

Abstract: There is an increasing interest in adding omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to foods. Due to the highly polyunsaturated nature of omega-3 fatty acids, avoiding lipid oxidation in omega-3 enriched foods remains a major challenge for food producers. This chapter describes the consequences of lipid oxidation in food products with respect to off-flavour formation. Moreover, the most important factors, such as oil quality, pH, choice of ingredients, processing conditions, etc., affecting lipid oxidation in a range of different products (e.g. milk, mayonnaise, dairy products) are summarized. Strategies to avoid lipid oxidation (apart from antioxidant addition) are also discussed.