By Shane Starling

Scottish omega-3 supplier, Equateq, has added to its range by blending a high-dose EPA omega-3 form with whey in a debut targeting the sports market.

The company said it had chosen to employ EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) rather than DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) or any other fatty acid, because of the anti-inflammation benefits that EPA has demonstrated.

The company, which was born three years ago and produces pharma-grade, high-dose omega-3 oils from its Scottish base, said the whey-omega-3 blend was capable of delivering 135mg of its sardine-derived EPA powder.

Chief executive officer, Adam Kelliher, told NutraIngredients.com that the new offering would sell for, “just shy of €30 per kilogram” depending on volumes.

“There is a strong interest in whey among the sports community,” he said this morning. “We’ve begun discussions with sports companies that have been very encouraging.”

Equateq employs its Crystalpure technology to produce high-dose oils that can reach as high as 99 percent. For this reason its major markets are in the pharma area and the firm is scaling up its operations to meet growing demand in this area.

For the current application, it has produced an enriched triglyceride oil that is 50 percent omega-3. This enables the lipid fraction in the blend to be reduced to 30 percent which presents formulation advantages as oxidation rates are reduced.

The company is targeting breakfast shakes, as a sprinkle on food, and a cooking ingredient at low heats.

At 135mg per dose, the company said recommended dosages of 500mg could be achieved with three teaspoons of the formulation.

Crystalpure enables saturates and mono-unsaturates to be transformed into crystals, which facilitates, “the physical separation of the polyunsaturated stream.”

Equtaq splits its business between pharma and nutraceutical clients, noting its concentrations for pharma were all about being “super pure”, whereas nutra was much more about offering customised blends.

Frost & Sullivan notes 24 percent annual growth in the omega-3 sector, projecting a global market worth $1.6bn by 2014.

Source: Nutra Ingredients

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