Abstract from the 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia, 30 November - 3 December 2008, Glenelg, Australia

Guenon, Sophie

Jones, Holley-Anne

Karkkainen, Riikka

O\u27Shea, Jane E

Probst, Yasmine

Tapsell, Linda C.

Thorne, Rebecca L

English

Research Online

University of Wollongong Research Online Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive) Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health 2008 Variation of the omega-3 content of Australian food products Yasmine Probst University of Wollongong, yasmine@uow.edu.au Rebecca L. Thorne University of Wollongong, beck@uow.edu.au Jane E. O'Shea University of Wollongong, janeo@uow.edu.au Holley-Anne Jones University of Wollongong, holley@uow.edu.au Riikka Karkkainen University of Wollongong See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/hbspapers  Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, Life Sciences Commons, Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Probst, Yasmine; Thorne, Rebecca L.; O'Shea, Jane E.; Jones, Holley-Anne; Karkkainen, Riikka; Guenon, Sophie; and Tapsell, Linda C.: Variation of the omega-3 content of Australian food products 2008. https://ro.uow.edu.au/hbspapers/921 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: research-pubs@uow.edu.au Variation of the omega-3 content of Australian food products Abstract Abstract from the 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia, 30 November - 3 December 2008, Glenelg, Australia. Keywords content, australian, omega, 3, food, products, variation Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Probst, Y., Thorne, R. L., O'Shea, J. E., Jones, H., Karkkainen, R., Guenon, S. & Tapsell, L. C. (2008). Variation of the omega-3 content of Australian food products. In Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia, 30 Nov-3 Dec, Glenelg, SA. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 17 (Suppl 3), S114-S114. Authors Yasmine Probst, Rebecca L. Thorne, Jane E. O'Shea, Holley-Anne Jones, Riikka Karkkainen, Sophie Guenon, and Linda C. Tapsell This conference paper is available at Research Online: https://ro.uow.edu.au/hbspapers/921 Variation of the omega-3 content of Australian food products  YC Probst, R Thorne, J O’Shea, H Jones, R Karkkainen, S Guenon, L Tapsell Smart Foods Centre, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW   Background Omega-3 fatty acids, in particular long chain, are an essential nutrient in the diet though primarily obtained from marine sources. Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to many diet-disease relationships and resultantly products containing these fatty acids are often recommended in dietary counselling. With the present ecological debate about sustainability of the seafood market, many food manufacturers have added omega-3 fatty acids to products which do not naturally contain them.   Objective To determine the amount of omega-3 fatty acid in commercially available Australian food products.   Design Manufactured non-marine products containing omega-3 were identified in three leading supermarkets. Products were only included if they did not naturally contain the fatty acid. Products were identified from nutrient content claims on the label referring to omega-3. The nutrition information panel was recorded for each product. Information was enhanced by review of manufacturer websites. Data on marine products were sourced from nutrient  databases for comparison.   Outcomes Fourteen products were identified in the supermarkets for which the reported omega-3 content varied from 5mg/100g (Margarine) to 1070mg/100g (Eggs). Canned Salmon, Mackerel and Green muscles contained the greatest amounts of natural omega-3. Variations in the weight measure used to report the fatty acid on the label were also identified (e.g. milligrams rather than grams).   Conclusion There was large variation in the reported omega-3 content with many canned fish products (excl  salmon) containing less than the fortified dairy and grain products. This provides challenges for consumers in selecting products with desirable levels. The reliability of this data would need to be confirmed with further chemical analyses.   

Variation of the omega-3 content of Australian food products

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Variation of the omega-3 content of Australian food products

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