The ingredient, branded OmniMEGA, is composed of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil bound to a beta cyclodextrin backbone making a compressible powder suitable for tableting and ready-to-mix formulations that is more shelf stable, with less sensitivity to air and oxidation, without the fishy reflux, said the company.
Jeremy Bartos, PhD, scientific and regulatory affairs manager for Glanbia Nutritionals, told us that the stability of the ingredient allows its used in multi-ingredient formulations like multi-vitamins, or condition-specific formulations, or sports nutrition ready-to-mix powders, and more.
“Companies who currently have to outsource their fish oil softgels can also bring the product in-house as a tablet or capsule,” he told us.
“The beta-cyclodextrin keeps the fish oil mixed within the hydrophilic stomach contents, so no fishy burps or reflux; this is a big point for krill oil with their phospholipid backbone,” he added.
OmniMEGA is standardized to 18% omega-3s by weight, so you get 180 total omega-3s per gram, said Dr Bartos. “Of that 18%, 8.5% is EPA and 6% is DHA. With respect to 1 gram of fish oil, the EPA/DHA percentage is much lower because of the beta-cyclodextrin that we are adding for the tableting/multi-ingredient/fish-burp benefits. But we aren’t selling against standard fish oil softgels on a cost or concentration basis.”
‘Enhanced composition’
The ingredient’s composition, which was the subject of a recent paper in Food Chemistry (Vol. 185, pp. 151-158), reportedly provides benefits over current omega-3 delivery technologies which may be limited by auto-oxidation, limited shelf-life, sensitivities to air, heat, light and humidity, and the potential to cause ‘fish-burps’, said Glanbia.
Data from a bioavailability human clinical study reportedly showed that tablets made with OmniMEGA offered superior EPA and DHA absorption compared to soft-gels. Three studies have also found that there is no reflux (‘fish-burps’) associated with the ingredient 8-24 hours after consuming OmniMEGA tablets.
“OmniMEGA provides customers the ability to formulate an omega-3 in to a powdered multi-ingredient application such as direct compressible tablets, capsules, ready-to-mix powdered beverages for sports nutrition and rapid melts as an alternative to children’s gummies,” said Ram Nimmagudda, PhD, Director of Business Development for Glanbia Nutritionals.
OmniMEGA is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and holds two WO process patents, said Glanbia.