Consumers looking for a quick meal-replacement snack may soon be able to reach for a nutrition bar fortified with fish oil. Food scientists are reporting the development of new snack bars that replace canola oil with fish oil – providing all the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acid supplements.
The new fortified food products, detailed in the Journal of Food Science published by the Institute of Food Technologists, have been developed without giving the snack bars a fishy taste.
The researchers noted food manufacturers have been reluctant to add fish oil to products because it tends to affect the taste or smell, requiring additional processing steps to eliminate these unwanted qualities.
SPECIAL: Stop Your Sugar Addiction With These 4 Tips
But in a new study, the researchers found consumers who sampled oat- and soy-based nutrition bars fortified with small amounts of fish oil (20 percent) found them to be acceptable, without any unpleasant fishy taste or odors that would make them less likely to purchase them than other snack products.
Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil are known to lower triglyceride levels and may help with rheumatoid arthritis.