A Multi-Year Rancidity Analysis of 72 Marine and Microalgal Oil Omega-3 Supplements
Abstract
Abstract There exists significant heterogeneity in the ‘freshness’ of consumer marine- and plant-derived omega-3 (Ω3) supplements. Fears of rancidity, or the oxidation of consumer Ω3 supplements, has been debated in the literature with several prior authors reporting contradictory findings. We report the peroxide value (PV), para-anisidine value (p-AV) and total oxidation values (TOTOX) associated with 72 consumer Ω3 supplements sold in the United States sampled from 2014–2020. The effect of flavoring on the oxidation of the supplements was examined in an adjusted fixed effects model controlling for type of delivery system (enteric, liquid, animal- and vegetable-derived gelatin softgel, spray), source (algae, calamari, fish, krill, mussels), and certifications assigned by third-party organizations (e.g. USP). Overall, our results revealed that 68% (23/34) of flavored and 13% (5/38) unflavored consumer Ω3 supplements exceeded the TOTOX upper limit set by the Global Organization for EPA and DHA (GOED) voluntary monograph standard of ≤ 26, with 65% (22/34) flavored supplements and 32% (12/38) unflavored supplements failing the PV upper limit of ≤ 5 and 62% (21/34) flavored supplements exceeding the p-AV upper limit of ≤ 20. “Our findings show flavorings can dramatically alter the reported oxidation of consumer fish oil supplements such that products containing such additives are not currently indicated for the testing of secondary oxidation determined by the p-AV.” To our…
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