Seal blubber oil

Cadwallader and Shahidi (82) identified the potent odorants of seal blubber oil by direct thermal desorption-gas chromatography-olfactometry (DTD-GCO). In... 

TABLE 8. Changes of Tocopherol and Acid Value of Seal Blubber Oil during Processing/... 

Commercial marine mammal oils, such as seal blubber oil products, are available in form of soft gel capsules as nutritional supplements (82). The quality parameters of three commercial seal oil capsules are listed in Table 9. 

Marine mammal oils or their co3 concentrates can also be modified for different applications. Modifications include the changing of the fatty acid composition and/ or their location in the glycerol backbone. Structured lipids containing both 0)3 long-chain PUFAs, possibly from seal blubber oil, or their co3 concentrates, and medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), which are saturated fatty acids with 6-12... 

Stmctured lipids possessing n-3 PUFAs, such as EPA and DHA, located at mid position, with MCFAs at the end positions, have gained considerable attention as nutritional and health supplements. These TAGs provide rapid delivery of energy via oxidation of the MCFAs and, at the same time, supply metabolically functional fatty acids in the same molecule. Senanayake and Shahidi (51) used an immobilized in-1,3-specific lipase from Mucor miehei to incorporate capric acid into seal blubber oil containing EPA and DHA. On enzyme-catalyzed acidolysis, a stmctured lipid containing 27.1% capric acid, 2.3% EPA, and 7.6% DHA was achieved. Lipase from Mucor miehei incorporated capric acid predominantly at the in-1,3 positions of the stmctured lipid. 

Microbial lipases from Aspergillus niger (AN), Candida cylindracea (CC), Pseudomonas spp. (PS), Chromobacterium viscosum (CV), Rhizopus delemer (RD), and Rhizopus javanicus (RJ) have been widely used in modifying PUFA-rich oils (117). The fatty acid specificity of lipases (discrimination of PUFA over short-chain fatty acids) is a crucial factor when considering the application of enzymes to modify marine oils rich in PUFA (118-121). Lipases from Rhizopus spp are known to be 1,3-position specific (122). Wanasundara (79) and Wanasundara and Shahidi (123, 124) (seal blubber oil SBO and menhaden oil MHO) and Tanaka et al. (117)... 

Typically, they are produced by feeding poultry diets containing whole flax seed or flax seed oil or by eliminating animal coproducts and feeding poultry diets containing vitamin E, kelp, and canola oil (110). Use of deodorized seal blubber oil has also proven effective (111). 

Distribution of Long-Chain n-3 Fatty Acids in Menhaden and Seal Blubber Oils (%y... 

We recently reported the production of SL via acidolysis of seal blubber oil with capric acid. Lipozyme-IM from Mucor miehei was used as a biocatalyst at an oil to fatty acid ratio of 1 3 in hexane, at 45 C for 24 h and 1% (w/w) water (34). Under these conditions, a SL containing 2.3% EPA, 7.6% DHA, and 27.1% capric acid (CA) was obtained. Although solvents with a log P value of 2.5—4.5 performed well, solvent-free systems also afforded satisfactory incorporation of CA into SBO. In this product, CA molecules were located primarily in the n-l and sn-3 positions, thus releasing them upon the action of pancreatic lipase (see Table 4). Similar results were obtained upon acidolysis of seal blubber with lauric acid (35). The main portion of capric acid was in positions n-l and sn-3, thus serving as a readily available source of energy. 

Ritty Acid Composition upon Enzymatic Modification of Seal Blubber Oil with Capric Acid (%) ... 

Wanasundara, U.N., and Shahidi, F. (1997) Positional Distribution of Fatty Acids in Triacylglycerols of Seal Blubber Oil, J. Food Lipids 4,51-64. 

Shahidi, F., and Wanasundara, UJ4. (1999) Concentration of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids of Seal Blubber Oil by Urea Complexation Optimization of Reaction Conditions, Food Chem. 65.41-49. 

Spurvey, S.A., Senanayake, S.PJ.N., and Shahidi, F. (2001) Enzymatic-Assisted Acidolysis of Menhaden and Seal Blubber Oils with y-Linolenic Acid, /. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 78, 1105 1112. 

The oxidative stability of seal blubber oil (SBO) is improved by microencapsulation. Microcapsules containing SBO prepared with p-cyclodextrins as the wall material are easily handled and incorporated into food formulations [61]. 

Pacetti, D., Boselb, E., Hulan, H.W. and Frega, N.G. (2005) Fbgh performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry of phosphobpid molecular species in eggs from hens fed diets enriched in seal blubber oil. J. Chromatogr. A 1097, 66-73. 

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