Fish Oil
Fatty acids like amino acids are one of the fundamental building blocks of life. Amino acids are used to make proteins while fatty acids perform a whole range of different tasks in both plants and animals. At the simplest level, fatty acids in the form of oils and fats are a good way to store energy for future need. Fats and oils retain more energy than either protein or carbohydrate. For example, plants store energy for seed development in the form of oil, while mammals store energy in the form of adipose fat or as in cod in the form of oil in their livers.
However, in addition to simple storage, fatty acids play a vital role in many biological structures and functions. Possibly the most important being one of the fundamental components in cell membranes.
Fatty acids come in a variety of forms but all have the common feature of being a chain of carbon atoms. These can be only a few carbon atoms long or they can be between 18 and 24 carbon atoms long.
In addition to the number of carbon atoms, the number of double bonds in the chain is also important. The more double bonds there are, the less saturated, and the more unsaturated, the fatty acid is. And where the first double bond in the chain occurs also affects its properties; if it occurs 6 bonds in from the end of the chain it is called omega-6, while if it is 3 bonds in it is called omega-3.
Historically fish oil was mainly in feed for farmed fish but now is increasingly being refined for use as food ingredients or health supplements.
On average, 1 to 1.5 million tons of fish oil are produced worldwide every year, with Omega-3 nutraceuticals representing a >25,000 ton sub-segment of material with consumption CAGR*>20% . Only 2.8% of the global revenue of crude fish oil producers is associated with fish oil destined for human consumption, and the growth in AquaCulture will continue to support the Crude Fish Oil market for years to come. Peru continues to be the main fish oil producer worldwide, with about a quarter of total fish oil production.
Benefits
- Fish oil plays an important part in prepared diets for aquaculture species as it is an ideal energy source, as well as providing essential fatty acids. It imparts the final product with high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids.
- Helps to maintain the immune system and optimise disease resistance.
- Reduce severity of inflammatory diseases (EPA, eicosapentaenoic acid, and DHA, docosahexaenoic acid, both are two highly unsaturated fatty acid chains, are anti-inflammatory).
- Protection against cardiovascular disease
Fish oil is an as an excellent source of Omega – 3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA
DHA is the key structural component in cell membranes of the myelin sheath and synapses. EPA is the essential fatty acid precursor to anti-inflammatory eicosanoids. Combined they help the brain to repair damage by promoting neuronal growth.
Third party research indicates that omega-3 based products will reach $7bn in sales worldwide by 2011. In 2006, this figure stood at $2bn, and the boom over the past four years has followed the lipid ingredient's move into mainstream food and beverage.
EPA & DHA Long Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids present in marine sources are a great part of this market growth – in 2002 almost all Omega 3 enriched foods were present as ALA Omega sources which are derived from Flaxseed Oil. Today, many food companies are enriching their products with ultra-refined fishoils containing high levels of EPA & DHA Long Chain Omega 3s – these are the target markets for BlueWave’s “Intermediate Refined Oil”.
Due to BlueWave's business strategy of locating its facilities in conjunction with other human consumption standard production sites such as its partner canning/freezing sites – the quality of raw material used to produce BlueWave fishoils will be much higher than that which comes from traditional fishmeal processing operations.