Revolutionizing omega-3: Natures Crops Ahiflower Oil emerges as a potent and sustainable alternative

18 Jan 2024 --- A recent literature review endorses Natures Crops Ahiflower Oil as a reliable alternative source of bioactive omega-3 fatty acids, which have seen significant price increases and supply shortages. 

The review, published in Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care and conducted by a lipid researcher at the faculty of medicine, University of Southampton, UK, outlines the pitfalls of the continued harvesting of omega-3 from marine sources and the benefits of the Ahiflower plant-based alternative.

Nutrition Insight speaks with Andrew Hebard, CEO and founder at Natures Crops International, who gives us insights about the value of biodiversity, price stability and clean processing in a volatile and unpredictable market — along with the added benefit of a higher nutritional value.

“Ahiflower is a biodiverse oilseed crop, just like flax and produces small seeds that are cold expeller pressed to produce an oil which is lightly refined before being introduced into food, beverage and supplement products. It’s a natural, clean and basic process, just like the manufacture of olive oil,” Hebard explains.

“Importantly, we are not impacted by climate change, quotas, subsidies and even the supply chain issues as a result of COVID or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This has enabled tremendous price stability, which other sources have been unable to provide.”

Ahiflower production uses minimal inputs and is grown through regenerative agricultural practices. When the crude oil is lightly refined, only physical refining — steam distillation, clay and carbon filtration — to remove impurities is used. 

“The resulting full-spectrum oil is packaged under nitrogen in lined steel drums in frozen storage until sold. No chemical solvents are used. Ahiflower oil’s supply chain is highly climate-resilient and entirely avoids the conventional omega-3 industry’s supply chain disruptions and spiraling prices,” says Hebard. 

Omega-3 comparison
Ahiflower oil has high levels of alpha linolenic acid (ALA), stearidonic acid (SDA) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) augments and matches pure marine docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in rates replacing and deploying DHA into liver, adipose and brain tissue of mice.

The review outlines the oil’s capacity to efficiently form as much eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and DHA — naturally and dynamically — to support cell membranes and tissues. The central premise of the review was to document sustainable alternatives to traditional sources of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. 

Natures Crops plant-based Ahiflower oil was analyzed alongside microalgae-derived EPA and DHA sources and genetically modified (GMO) canola or camelina seed sources. The algal and GMO terrestrially farmed sources of preformed EPA and DHA can mimic many of the recognized health benefits of fish oil supplementation.

Hebard explains: “There are two important points of comparison, one compositionally and the other metabolically. Typically, fish oil contains about 30% total omega-3, 18% EPA and 12% DHA. Ahiflower oil has 65% total omega-3 (20% SDA and 45% ALA). When consumed, SDA and to a lesser extent ALA, boosts circulating omega-3 EPA and forms omega-3 DHA efficiently in key tissues like the liver and brain.” 

SDA is relatively uncommon in plants, while ALA is found in flax in chia at comparable levels to Ahiflower. “The combination of these two omega-3 fatty acids makes Ahiflower so effective at producing EPA and DHA. Ahiflower oil also contains good levels of omega-6 GLA (6%), comparable to evening primrose oil.”Ahiflower Oil has been endorsed as a sustainable alternative to marine derived omega-3s (Credit: Natures Crops). 

“GLA is not found in fish oil nor in algal EPA and DHA sources, and is recognized for having anti-inflammatory and hormone balancing activity. Metabolically, the principal difference is that Ahiflower provides precursor omega-3’s — the naturally occurring building block omegas that our body can use on-demand, in just the right quantity, to produce EPA and DHA internally, whereas fish oil contains preformed EPA and DHA,” Hebard says.

Naturally derived EPA and DHA demonstrate self-regulating properties, such as producing what is needed instead of taking pre-set daily levels.

“Remarkably, the effects of the Ahiflower oil containing lipid emulsion were greater than those of the fish oil emulsion,” says Dr. Baker, a lipid researcher at the School of Human Development and Health, faculty of medicine, University of Southampton.

Evidence of the anti-inflammatory properties of fatty acids derived from Ahiflower is growing. In addition, the demand for omega-3 from fish catch — anchovies, sardines, herring or menhaden — can no longer be met sufficiently due to significant decreases in fish stocks. 

“This demand may not be met because of insufficient fisheries catch due to the reduction in fish stocks from overfishing and climate change. Hence, alternative sources of EPA and DHA to fish need to be seriously considered and their potential explored,” Baker underscores.

“SDA has qualitatively similar effects to EPA and combinations of EPA and DHA, but these are greater than the effects of ALA. Recent experimental studies with oil from a commercially grown crop rich in SDA, Ahiflower oil, have reported remarkable effects which might result from its high ALA, SDA and GLA,” Baker explains.

Higher IL-10 and a higher IL-10/IL-6 ratio in liver and muscle were found along with greater hepatic insulin receptor 2 expression, higher percentages of liver helper T cells expressing interferon-gamma and elimination of a microinvasive bacterium from the gut mucosa.

R&D and crop resilience
The original wild-type weed varieties of Buglossoides arvensis that Natures Crops developed in collaboration with its UK farmers and National Institute of Agricultural Botany were challenging to cultivate initially. 

“Following only natural selection and conventional plant breeding techniques required patience and persistence — transforming a weed whose seed oil had no prior history of human use into a food crop that UK farmers could grow successfully. In early pilot trials that started more than 20 years ago, candidly, we reaped less than we sowed,” Hebard recalls. 

“However, over hundreds of iterations and using scores of germplasm accessions worldwide, a superior and robust set of seed lines slowly emerged. These patented varieties have proven their climate resilience through intensive UK droughts and epic flooding while providing growers reliable yields, a premium return versus gyrating commodity oilseed prices, and multi-year crop rotational stability with minimal inputs.” 

An industry-level R&D challenge has been the relatively unrecognized status of SDA’s efficient DHA metabolism in preference to 50 years of EPA/DHA metabolism. “This is partly due to insufficient analytical capability — now overcome — in detecting and attributing blood and tissue DHA formation to a dietary source. 

“We decided to pursue research partners and technologies that allowed us to look at plant-based omegas through a completely different lens. The new peer-reviewed publications mark a real turning point,” Hebard concludes.

By Inga de Jong