Encapsulation of Fish Oil Into Low-Cost Alginate Beads and EPA-DHA Release in a Rumino-Intestinal In Vitro Digestion Model

Fish oil-origin eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) areencaps ulated with fo rmulated algina te to prevent bi ohydrogen ation in the ru men.Beads are formulated with 0.3%, 1.0%, and 2.0% of alginate. Bead surface pore-format ion i s charac terized by environme ntal scanning electron microsc opy (ESEM).Observed pore sizes according to alginate concentration are 17?33 ?m (0.3%), 10?18 ?m (1.0%), and 5?10 ?m (2.0%). Release of EPA and DHA is evaluated duringruminal, abomasal, and intestinal simulated digestion. Beads shows highpercentage of encapsulation efficiency (91.39% from EPA and 93.51% from DHA).Beads designed (1.0%) allows to obtain EPA release of 13.65% (ruminal digestion),29.07% (abomasal digestion), and 28.21% (intestinal digestion); while, DHAreleases under the same conditions are: 18.55%, 26.78%, and 43.16%, respectively.Beads with 1.0% of alginate had the best release pattern duri ng ruminal simulateddigestion allowing an increased intestinal availability of EPA and DHA.Practical Applications: Fish oil encapsulation into alginate beads is a goodalternative for ruminant diets supplementation, which will allow to get animalorigin food (milk and meat, mainly) enriched with essential fatty acids suchas EPA and DHA.