Sustainable canola oil revolutionizes omega-3s

Nutriterra from Nuseed is a canola oil that contains long-chain omega-3 fatty acids that were previously exclusive to marine sources, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), providing a comprehensive plant-based source of omega-3s for food and beverage applications.

According to Katrina Benedicto, director of marketing and communications at Nuseed, the technology behind Nutriterra has been 20 years in the making.

“It’s the most sophisticated biotechnology that has ever been approved for commercial use and human use in any part of the world,” she said.

The biotechnology enables canola to use the same pathway microalgae uses to produce long-chain fatty acids like DHA and EPA. It’s also to the same pathway the human body uses to convert ALA to DHA, Benedicto explained.

“Generally, think of it as a hardware and a software situation, where the canola is the hardware and the biotechnology,” she said. “The genetics we borrowed from microalgae are the software that enable it to produce longer chain fatty acids.”

The novel canola has been genetically modified to include seven genes in microalgae that are responsible for producing long-chain fatty acids. “It’s really just doing what canola already does, which is making omega-3 fatty acids and optimizing it to get all the way to DHA,” Benedicto said.

Providing a plant-based source of total omega-3 nutrition can make omega-3s more accessible and more sustainable. According to data from the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organization, 35% of wild fish stocks are overfished. Using canola, a crop grown on five continents, to produce long-chain fatty acids “can actually double the world’s supply of DHA on just 5% of current canola land,” Benedicto explained.

In addition, Nuseed’s novel canola oil is expeller-pressed like traditional canola oil, allowing growers to use existing and well-established infrastructure.

Nutriterra’s technology solves another challenge familiar to seed oils: nutrition.

“One of the challenges with seed oils is not that they come from seeds, but they are generally very high in omega-6 fatty acids, which are known to be pro-inflammatory,” Benedicto said.

Nutriterra’s technology works by converting the omega-6 fatty acids, like ALA, to long-chain fatty acids, yielding a canola oil that’s one part omega-6 to four parts omega-3, versus two parts omega-6 to one part omega-3 in traditional canola oil.

Nutriterra in food, beverage application

According to Benedicto, a key benefit of Nutriterra is its ease of use in formulation. That’s due, in part, to its mild smell and taste — a hurdle of traditional marine oils like fish or algal oil.

“[Nutriterra] has just the most subtle marine aroma to it, unlike other marine oils … that are very, very strong, very fishy. Ours is … very mild tasting and mild smelling,” she said.

Adding to its appeal is versatility. The novel canola oil is available as an oil or a powder, making it suitable for a range of food and beverage products.

The “best” application for Nutriterra, per Benedicto, would be a salad dressing because “it gives you a really high usage rate to be able to include a lot of our really good fatty acids.” She cited Caesar dressing, which would benefit from the oil’s mild flavor.

Other potential food applications for Nutriterra include mayonnaises, bars, gummies and yogurts, Benedicto said.

In beverages, the powder format would work well — particularly in nutritional beverages and drinks with a creamy, milky texture — “because it would be really soluble and blend in nicely and have a nice mouthfeel.”

Importantly, Nutriterra isn’t designed to serve as a replacement to fish oils or to standard canola oil. “Instead, it’s a value-added product that can make omega-3 nutrition more accessible to larger audiences,” Benedicto explained.