Omega-3--the fatty acids found in fish and some nuts and oils--is increasingly being added to other foods, often via fish oil or flax seeds. The primary target is the 79 million baby boomers, because
omega-3 has been shown to cut risks of heart disease and maybe other diseases, including Alzheimer's.
Tropicana will roll out the first national orange juice with omega-3 later this month.
Kellogg puts it into a Kashi cereal. Unilever puts it in I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. Eggland's Best sells eggs boosted to 100 milligrams of omega-3 per egg, vs. 37 milligrams for a regular
egg.
"It's become the miracle food," says Maureen Putman, marketing chief at the Hain Celestial Group, which puts omega-3 in Health Valley bread. It's also about to add it to an
Earth's Best infant formula, since some studies show it can aid in brain development.
Not all nutritionists, however, encourage consuming it as an additive rather than in foods such as
salmon, where it is found naturally. "It isn't good nutrition to cram a lot of ingredients into a single food," said registered dietician Robyn Flipse.
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