Makerere to start making cod liver oil
Jan 02, 2010
MAKERERE University food scientists have made the equivalent of cod liver oil using fish factory byproducts.
By Ben Okiror
MAKERERE University food scientists have made the equivalent of cod liver oil using fish factory byproducts.
The head of the Food Science and Technology department at the university, Professor John Muyonga, told Saturday Vision that they were looking for ways to produce the oil commercially, as a nutritional supplement in form of a syrup for young children and capsules for adults.
The oil, he explained, is good for brain development and it is a health booster.
“That oil contains Vitamin A and Vitamin E,†Muyonga said.
He said they extracted the oil from fish byproducts, especially the belly flab trimmed from Nile Perch.
He added that tests had shown the level of purity meets international standards.
Cod liver is praised as a super food because it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids that reduce bad cholesterol in human beings.
Muyonga added that the department had also established that cake made from the grain of amaranth, a common vegetable, enhances the growth of children and boosts the immunity of people living with HIV.
Preliminary findings indicate that children below the age of six had gained weight after eating cakes made of grain amaranth compared to their counterparts who ate cakes made of wheat flour.
“A different study has shown that grain amaranth is very good for people with HIV because is slows the onset of AIDS and boosts their immunity,†Muyonga said.
MAKERERE University food scientists have made the equivalent of cod liver oil using fish factory byproducts.
The head of the Food Science and Technology department at the university, Professor John Muyonga, told Saturday Vision that they were looking for ways to produce the oil commercially, as a nutritional supplement in form of a syrup for young children and capsules for adults.
The oil, he explained, is good for brain development and it is a health booster.
“That oil contains Vitamin A and Vitamin E,†Muyonga said.
He said they extracted the oil from fish byproducts, especially the belly flab trimmed from Nile Perch.
He added that tests had shown the level of purity meets international standards.
Cod liver is praised as a super food because it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids that reduce bad cholesterol in human beings.
Muyonga added that the department had also established that cake made from the grain of amaranth, a common vegetable, enhances the growth of children and boosts the immunity of people living with HIV.
Preliminary findings indicate that children below the age of six had gained weight after eating cakes made of grain amaranth compared to their counterparts who ate cakes made of wheat flour.
“A different study has shown that grain amaranth is very good for people with HIV because is slows the onset of AIDS and boosts their immunity,†Muyonga said.