I recently noticed that Starbucks has an apple bran muffin that it advertises contains DHA in the marine algae form. I checked into it, knowing we've got a lot of readers on the lookout for omega-3 options.
I was able to find the ingredients on the Starbucks website:
whole wheat flour, brown sugar, water, whole eggs, apples, wheat bran, honey, dried cherries (red tart cherries, sugar, sunflower oil), soybean oil, dried cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil), raisins, rolled oats, unsalted butter (cream [from milk]), quick oats, molasses, nonfat milk powder, salt, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate), calcium carbonate, ground cinnamon, sodium bicarbonate, natural flavor, vanilla extract, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, xanthan gum, dha oil (dha algal oil, high oleic sunflower oil, sunflower lecithin, rosemary extract, ascorbyl palmitate).
However, nowhere on the Internet could I find information about how much DHA this muffin actually contained.
So I wrote Starbucks, asking for the information. Starbucks politely wrote me back and told me they didn't have the information to give me.
Coupled with the facts that the primary oil used in this muffin is soybean oil, inCYST readers should know that there is a strong possibility that the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of this product is likely higher than what you ideally want. Plus, the dried fruits are sweetened, you're going to be better off with another way to get DHA.
If Starbucks would be willing to switch out the oil and provide the DHA information I'm willing to revisit this topic. But given the fact that no one really seems to know if the omega-3 content is comparable to any other choices, the fact that this product contains omega-3's cannot really be considered to be advantageous.
Here's hoping we're educating all of you well enough that companies learn that just because it's not required by law, information on a label must be complete in order to be a selling point.