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At present, research shows that pregnant women are not consuming enough long-chain (LC) ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) from their diet alone. Therefore, functional foods and supplements may be an alternative way for women to attain LC ω-3 PUFA guidelines in pregnancy. A review of the literature has identified that there are a limited number of studies investigating the use of functional foods/supplements in pregnancy. However, those that have been undertaken do appear to indicate that their consumption may be beneficial to both mother and child. Further research is now needed to reinforce preliminary findings from these studies.

The influence of feeding full-fat flax seed with and without dietary antioxidants to 6-wk old male Hubbard chickens, on chemical characteristics of cooked white and dark meats was assessed. Level of dietary ω-3 fatty acid and dietary antioxidant significantly influenced the ω-3 PUFA compositions of meat lipids. Addition of antioxidants, especially mixed tocopherol plus canthaxanthin, to the diet significantly reduced concentrations of malonaldehyde and total volatiles in the enriched meat, particularly dark meat. Broiler meats enriched with omega-3 fatty acids could be stabilized by incorporation of natural antioxidants.

Production and growth of a local strain of marine Chlorella sp. was investigated under different pH levels ranging from pH 6.0–8.5 using 200 L capacity algal tubes. The results show that a pH of 6.5 will be most conducive for producing this species in a continuous culture system. The highest production was 136 g/m3/d with a mean of 117 ± 11 g/m3/d at pH 6.5 compared with other pH levels tested. The total fatty acid content was elevated at low pH levels and ω 3 PUFA increased as the pH was lowered from 8.5 to 6.5. The investigations show that algal productivity is considerably higher in the continuous culture system than in any of the other culture systems available.