Abstract
Human health is an increasing concern reflected, for ex ample, by a rising number of patients with diseases like coronary artery disease (CAD) worldwide. The cons umption 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 a re well described. Omega-3 is known to be rich especially in marine fish. Recently, researchers reported the pla nt perilla mint (Perilla frutescens) as another potential source of this fatty acid. Particularly, the seeds of this pla nt 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. Further more, perilla seeds have low levels of trypsin i nhibitors, which make it suitable for use as animal feed.