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Comparative Study
. 2021 Jun 9;16(6):e0252125.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252125. eCollection 2021.

In vitro intestinal digestion of lipids from the marine diatom Porosira glacialis compared to commercial LC n-3 PUFA products

Lars Dalheim  1 , Jon Brage Svenning  1 , Ragnar Ludvig Olsen  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

In vitro intestinal digestion of lipids from the marine diatom Porosira glacialis compared to commercial LC n-3 PUFA products

Lars Dalheim et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Marine sources of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3 PUFA) are in high demand for use in health supplements. Mass cultivated marine microalgae is a promising and sustainable source of LC n-3 PUFA, which relieves pressure on natural fish stocks. The lipid class profile from cultivated photosynthetic algae differ from the marine organisms currently used for the production of LC n-3 PUFA. The objective of this study was to compare in vitro intestinal digestion of oil extracted from the cold-adapted marine diatom Porosira glacialis with commercially available LC n-3 PUFA supplements; cod liver oil, krill oil, ethyl ester concentrate, and oil from the copepod Calanus finmarchicus (Calanus® oil). The changes in the free fatty acids and neutral and polar lipids during the enzymatic hydrolysis were characterized by liquid and gas chromatography. In Calanus® oil and the Ethyl ester concentrate, the free fatty acids increased very little (4.0 and 4.6%, respectively) during digestion. In comparison, free fatty acids in Krill oil and P. glacialis oil increased by 14.7 and 17.0%, respectively. Cod liver oil had the highest increase (28.2%) in free fatty acids during the digestion. Monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids were more easily released than polyunsaturated fatty acids in all five oils.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare no conflict of interests. There are no conflicts, informed consent, human or animal rights applicable. The present work was funded in part by Finnfjord AS. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. None of the authors are employed by Finnfjord AS directly or as consultants.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (weight percent) in free fatty acid (square), neutral lipid (circle) and polar lipid (triangle) fraction of oil from Porosira glacialis (n = 3) during in vitro digestion.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (weight percent) in free fatty acid (square) and neutral lipid (circle) fraction of Calanus® oil (n = 3) during in vitro digestion.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (weight percent) in free fatty acid (square) and neutral lipid (circle) fraction of cod-liver oil (n = 3) during in vitro digestion.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (weight percent) in free fatty acid (square) and neutral lipid (circle) fraction of the ethyl ester concentrate (n = 3) during in vitro digestion.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), and saturated fatty acids (SFA) (weight percent) in free fatty acid (square), neutral lipid (circle) and polar lipid (triangle) fraction of krill oil (n = 3) during in vitro digestion.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Amount of omega-3 fatty acids (weight percent) in free fatty acid (square), neutral lipid (circle) and polar lipid (triangle) fraction of samples from Calanus® oil (CO), cod-liver oil (CLO), ethyl ester concentrate (EEC), krill oil (KO) and oil from Porosira glacialis (PGO) (n = 3) during in vitro digestion.
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