If you can’t bear to include fish in your diet, it can be hard to get your wellness-boosting and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which many health studies recommend should be in the region of 500 milligrams per day. There are a growing number of omega-3 enriched foods, but milk has so far eluded joining the burgeoning club. However, food science researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, also known as Virginia Tech, may have managed to make milk even more beneficial to your wellbeing by incorporating fish oil into the mix.
For the study, researchers tested four different ratios of butter oil to fish oil in the production of pasteurized, fatty acid-fortified beverages. They proved it is possible to include sufficient amounts of Omega-3 to promote heart health, with 432 milligrams of heart-healthy fatty acids per cup, without ruining the taste of the product, limiting its lifespan, or, indeed, creating an unpleasant odour.
Susan E. Duncan, a professor of food science and technology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, stated ‘We couldn’t find any aroma differences’ when 25 volunteers sniffed and compared one-ounce cups of standard 2% fat milk alongside samples of skim milk containing 78 parts butter oil to 22 parts fish oil under study conditions. Duncan continued ‘We were concerned the fish oil would undergo a chemical process called oxidation, which would shorten the milk’s shelf life, or the milk would acquire a cardboard or paint flavour by reacting with the fish oil. It appears we have a product that is stable, with no chemical taste or smell issues.’
Research has shown the positive wellness benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, such as preventing coronary disease, reducing inflammation, assisting infant brain development and maintaining brain function and decreasing triglyceride levels, the growth of atherosclerotic plaque, blood pressure and the risk of potentially fatal heart arrhythmias.
Duncan urged the dairy industry to take the study results and put them into practise: ‘I would like to help people who love milk, yogurt, and dairy, which have intrinsic nutritional value, address an additional need in their diets, especially if they don’t like to eat fish or can’t afford it. One of these dairy servings a day apparently is enough to sustain enough continuous omega-3 to benefit heart health.’
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