Perilla Mint (Perilla frutescens): An Alternative Animal Feed to Enhance Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Meat and Eggs as Functional Food

Abstract

Human health is an increasing concern reflected, for example, by a rising number of patients with diseases like coronary artery disease (CAD) worldwide. The consumption of functional food, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acid is one possibility to improve health through a better nutrition. In the literature, benefits of omega-3, -6 and -9 fatty acids in terms of reducing the risk for CAD are well described. Omega-3 is known to be rich especially in marine fish. Recently, researchers reported the plant perilla mint (Perilla frutescens) as another potential source of this fatty acid. Particularly, the seeds of this plant have been reported with high omega-3 contents. When used as feed in swine and chicken, perilla seed and meal were found to increase omega-3 fatty acid contents in meat and other animal products such as eggs. An advantage of perilla mint is that production costs are much lower than for other crops such as soybean. Furthermore, perilla seeds have low levels of trypsin inhibitors, which make it suitable for use as animal feed.