Research Progress on the Enrichment of EPA and DHA from Fish Oil by Urea Inclusion Method Combined with Molecular Distillation Method

EPA and DHA in fish oil were a kind of functional factors with high nutritional value, which had positive effects on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health, the development of brain, the improvement of vision, and anti-inflammatory effect, etc. Therefore, the preparation of high-purity EPA and DHA has gradually become one of the hot issues of many researchers. Enriching EPA and DHA in fish oil by urea inclusion method not only had low cost of raw material but also simple operation, but the quality of the enriched fish oil was not high. The molecular distillation method could better protect the activity of EPA and DHA and improve the purity of fish oil. The combination of the two methods had the advantages of mature process, low cost of raw materials, and simple operation, which was one of the best choices for the industrial production of high-quality EPA and DHA. Therefore, based on summarizing the methods of enriching and purifying EPA and DHA in fish oil, the research progress of enriching and purifying EPA and DHA in fish oil by urea inclusion method, molecular distillation method and the combination of the two methods was expounded in this paper, hoping to provide certain reference value for obtaining the high-quality EPA and DHA in the future industrialization.