Assessing novel omega-3 foods
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing novel foods fortified with seed oil from transgenic plants to improve human omega-3 status
IRAS ID
302349
Contact name
Graham C Burdge
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
UK healthcare professionals recommend that adults should eat at least one portion of oily fish per week because fish oil and oily fish contain omega-3 fatty acids which are beneficial to health. However, many adults do not manage this, perhaps due to the taste or cost of oily fish and fish oil, or because they chose not to eat animal-derived foods. Therefore, there is a need for an alternative source of omega-3 fats these fish oil fatty acids that could be produced sustainably, and cost-efficiently and would be widely accepted. One possible solution is generating plants that can produce the omega-3 fats only found naturally in oily fish. Vegetable seed oils are regularly consumed in the UK but do not contain fish-type omega-3 fatty acids. We have added algal genes that make the omega-3 fats found in oily fish to a long-established oil seed crop Camelina sativa (a member of the cabbage family known as false flax) in order to produce a seed oil containing oily fish-type omega-3 fats.
This study aims to test how good this modified seed oil is as a source of omega-3 fats when incorporated into food as this may make people more likely to consume the oil than just taking the oil alone.
People who volunteer will be screened to check they are in good health. Those who take part in this study will consume the modified oil alone for 3 months, stop for 6 weeks and then consume a beverage fortified with the modified seed oil. A 10 mL blood sample will be collected, and a short health questionnaire completed at each of the 4 study visits. This study will take approximately 6 months for participants to complete.REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/SC/0172
Date of REC Opinion
31 May 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion