Omega3 Innovations’ Heart-Healthy Cookies and Chocolate Blur The Line Between Food and Medicine

VENICE, Fla. – Munch on a cookie to ward off diabetes and obesity? Enjoy a decadent-tasting chocolate to improve memory and reduce stress? While the ideas may sound outrageous to most dietitians, the physicians who founded Omega3 Innovations insist it is the future of our health. “Only by creating products that outperform junk food in both taste and practicality, can we change people’s diets,” says Dr. Bo Martinsen, co-founder of the “healthy cookie company.” The challenge for the staff at Venice-based Omega3 Innovations has been learning how to combine the two most recommended nutrients – fresh fish oil and beta-glucan oat soluble fiber – into tasty and clinically-effective super foods. Now, after years of research and experimentation, the biotech company has found the solution. “With our patented formulation, we were able to stabilize the oil to prevent it from separating and going rancid during the manufacturing process,” Martinsen says. He says that high doses of “super-fresh fish oil” from Norway are combined with other nutritious ingredients to produce the Omega Cookie, a heart-healthy and tasty cookie, as well as the Omega Passion, a healthy, yet delectable, frozen chocolate confection. The company also offers Omega Cure, a liquid fish oil with no taste or smell. Omega3 Innovations’ cookies and chocolates contain up to a prescription-sized dose of omega-3 (4g EPA/DHA), as well as 750 mg of cholesterol-reducing soluble oat fiber, two ingredients that have been top-performers in fighting heart disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes in thousands of studies, according to Martinsen. Pilot studies done by Omega3 Innovations, along with customer reports, indicate that the products can make a significant clinical difference. Venice resident Valerie Smith says her improved check-ups are proof. “After eating one to two Omega Cookies a day for three months, my doctor took me off of both my diabetes and cholesterol-lowering medication,” she says. Another Omega3 Innovations customer says that since he began taking daily doses of Omega Cure two years ago, his triglyceride levels dropped from 1800 to 80 to the astonishment of his doctor. The company’s patented technology also allows for the addition of anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients without compromising taste and nutritional value, or succumbing to adding preservatives and sweeteners, according to Dr. Anne-Marie Chalmers√, who co-founded the company with her husband. “Offering products in different sizes, flavors and presentations gives Omega3 Innovations the ability to satisfy most customers’ desires and needs for healthy nutrients,” she says. Martinsen agrees, saying their products “bridge the gap between food and medicine.” “We’re moving into the future where new breakfast foods, snacks and desserts truly can become a bridge to better health.” About Omega3 Innovations: Founded by Bo Martinsen, M.D., and Anne-Marie Chalmers√, M.D. – two physicians who have worked with omega-3 fish oil for more than 16 years – the company offers several varieties of Omega Cookies, Omega Passion chocolates, as well as Omega Cure supplements. Each cookie contains seven capsules worth of omega-3 fish oil, five grams of fiber, 200% of the daily value of vitamin D and 35% of calcium. The company was an innovation winner at the 2010 annual Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County’s Hall of Fame awards and was nominated in this year’s young business category. Omega3 Innovations is the first to create a bakery product that contains an effective dose of omega-3 fish oil. Omega3 Innovations is also in the process of developing a line of hospital food products and treats suitable for cafes and fast food restaurants. For more information, visit www.omega3innovations.com.