Today, healthy food has become increasingly important for people allover the world. In western countries, people have to deal more and more with so-called lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes and heart diseases,mainly caused by a poor diet, the use of tobacco and the lack of physical activity. Long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids,especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5 omega-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6 omega-3), are considered as essential fatty acids in a healthy diet, although their recommended daily intake is not reached by many people. Furthermore, fish stocks, which are not adequate to provide EPA and DHA to all people worldwide anyhow, are further declining. New sources of omega-3 LC-PUFA must thus be found. Since photoautotrophic microalgae are the primary producers of omega-3LC-PUFA, they have been proposed as an alternative for fish. They are known to produce biomass through photosynthesis in a more efficient way than land plants, achieving a higher biomass productivity compared to traditional crops.In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the potential of photoautotrophic microalgae as a source of omega-3 LC-PUFA rich oils asan alternative for fish oil. To do so, it was researched whether microalgae oils contain sufficient omega-3 LC-PUFA, whether some compounds (e.g. polar lipids, carotenoids and phytosterols) could add value to the microalgae oils and if they were stable. Furthermore, the methodology for food grade extraction of oils from photoautotrophic microalgae was also investigated. This study showed that the total lipid extracts of the following microalgae were shown to be the most interesting: Isochrysis galbana (for DHA), Nannochloropsis gaditana, N. oculata and Phaeodactylum tricornutum (for EPA), and Pavlova lutheri and Thalassiosira pseudonana(for EPA and DHA). The necessary daily amount of the microalgal total lipid extracts to reach an EPA + DHA intake of 250 mg/day was reasonably low. |
