Algae Oil: The Slippery Truth About New Cooking Oil Trend

TLDR: Companies are selling "trendy" algae cooking oil, but something's fishy - and it's not just the taste! One brand operates from a public library, another is run by ex-chemical industry folks, and the prices range from suspiciously cheap ($1/oz) to absolutely bonkers ($35/oz). Not to mention that most algae oil producers are actually chemical manufacturers making biofuel and jet fuel. So that fancy new health oil you're buying? It might be better suited for your car than your stir-fry.

_{Disclaimer: I discovered this trend using Exploding topics (I am an affiliate and a long-time fan of this tool), which has become my go-to resource for uncovering under-the-radar opportunities. While the tool doesn’t provide the research that comes with my newsletter, if you're into finding even more trends in all the fields, this tool is definitely worth a look.} 

Table of Contents

• The Current State: A Web of Inconsistencies

  • The Thrive Story: A Chemical Past

  • Algae Cooking Club: Venture-Backed Biotechnology

  • ProSeed Holistic Wellness: Shifting Identity

• A Matter of Price

• What's Actually in These Bottles?

  • Thrive's "Professional Blend"

  • Algae Cooking Club

  • ProSeed Holistic Wellness

• What’s Behind the Algae Oil Boom?

• The Health Claims: What Research Actually Shows?

• Why Does This Matters and How to Navigate the Tren …

The Current State: A Web of Inconsistencies

A search for "Algae Cooking Oil" on Amazon brings up 101 results, but when looking at individual listings you'll find very few actually contain what you'd expect.

 The search results are dominated by three main players, each deserving a closer inspection.

Let's start with Thrive, the most visible brand (three out of five spots on Amazon above the fold search results for algae cooking oil.) Their product markets itself as a "Professional Blend" containing algae oil and high oleic sunflower oil. They claim a smoke point of 535°F — roughly 125°F higher than olive oil — and "five times the oxidative stability of avocado oil." Impressive claims, but did they test their product themselves? We don’t know, there’s no paper to prove it.  But there is at least one research showing that bohai algae oil isn't recommended for high-temperature cooking due to potential rapid degradation (maybe it’s just the case with that particular algae? But I’d still want to see Thrive’s product tests results)

The Thrive Story: A Chemical Past

Let's look at who's behind these products, starting with Thrive. According to LinkedIn, the company has three people associated with it — two board members and one operational leader. That leader, Eelco Blum, Co-Founder & General Manager, has an interesting history worth examining.

Blum's career started at Cargill, where he rose from accounts payable to Business Consultant for Strategy Development. His main project? Truvia, a "natural" sweetener developed jointly with Coca-Cola. That venture ended with a $6.1 million class action settlement in November 2014, right when Blum departed his role at Cargill. The lawsuit revealed that while Cargill marketed Truvia as natural, they weren't mentioning the ethanol, methanol, and rubbing alcohol used in processing.

After Truvia, Blum's career path is telling:

• Product Line Management at TerraVia Holdings for algae-based products

• Managing Director at Avantium, focusing on "renewable chemistry technologies" including plant-based glycols and CO2 electrocatalysis

• Founded Beehive consultancy for "food and beverage product introductions"

The pattern? A career built on turning industrial ingredients into consumer products through clever marketing and product development.

Algae Cooking Club: Venture-Backed Biotechnology

Another player marketed well on Amazon, Algae Cooking Club comes from Squared Circles, a venture studio that describes its mission as working at "the intersection of science and culture, redesigning everyday consumer products to be better for you and our planet." While their founder publicly criticizes seed oils (which I, personally, appreciate and wholeheartedly share this sentiment), their own product's details remain conspicuously vague.

Their marketing emphasizes sustainable, consumer-friendly messaging, but their venture studio background and product opacity suggest something closer to biotechnology than traditional food production.

ProSeed Holistic Wellness: Shifting Identity

ProSeed Holistic Wellness presents itself as an artisanal operation, complete with NAHA certification and master herbalist credentials. Their marketing copy reads well:

• "UNREFINED VIRGIN PRESSED ALGAL OIL"

• "Organically grown or wildcrafted"

• "Handmade in small batches"

• "NAHA CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL AROMATHERAPIST"

But try to verify any of this, and the story falls apart.

They claim to sell pure, unrefined algae oil for $34.99 per ounce, boasting NAHA certification and master herbalist credentials. Their business address leads to a public library, while their founder's location bounces between three different states depending on which document you check.

According to founder’s blog she is based in Michigan, but if you check her LinkedIn she is in Pennsylvania (and not in New Jersey, with her library-headquatered business). Even their product description raises questions — they admit it has a "fishy taste" and suggest masking it with essential oils (cinnamon), hardly what you'd expect from a premium cooking oil.

A Matter of Price

The pricing spectrum is wild:

• ProSeed Holistic Wellness sells their "100% pure" algae oil for $34.99 per ounce

• Thrive's blend of algae and sunflower oil costs $1.48 per ounce

• Algae Cooking Club offers their product at $1.09 per ounce

• For comparison, organic sunflower seed oil on Amazon costs just $0.35 per ounce

Initially, I thought ProSeed's $34.99 price tag might be closer to reality for pure algae oil. After all, how could competitors sell comparable products for 30 times less? But since ProSeed's legitimacy is questionable I had to find some other ways to solve the pricing puzzle. 

So what should algae oil actually cost? Here's what we know: According to industry experts at Natural Products Expo West, "algae oil is much more expensive than fish oil."

Well at least we have some bottom line. Let's put that in perspective: NOW Foods, known for reasonably priced supplements, sells their liquid fish oil for $1.62 per ounce on Amazon at the moment of writing. If algae oil is supposed to be more expensive than fish oil, how is Algae Cooking Club selling their product for just $1.09 per ounce? This gets even more suspicious when you consider their production volumes and revenue are far lower than established supplement companies like NOW Foods.

What's Actually in These Bottles?

The color of these products also raises red flags. According to LG Botanicals, natural algae oil should have an orange color due to carotenoids produced during algal growth. Yet Thrive's product is distinctly yellow, even though the company tries to distract you from that fact with the packaging (oh, it gives me Truvia lawsuit vibes)  — looking suspiciously like the sunflower oil it contains. 

While Algae Cooking Club simply hides their oil in opaque packaging.

Let's look closer at what these companies are actually selling:

Thrive's "Professional Blend"

• Ingredients: Algae Oil, High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Mixed Tocopherols

• No disclosure of the ratio between ingredients

• Charging $1.48/oz for what might as well be sunflower oil ($0.35/oz)

Algae Cooking Club

• Lists only "Algae Oil, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)"

• No nutritional information provided

• Ratio between ingredients is not known

• Priced impossibly low given industry standards

ProSeed Holistic Wellness

• Claims to sell pure, unrefined algae oil

• Marketing focuses on certifications but provides no verifiable business information

• Admits their product has a "fishy taste" requiring flavor masking

• Price suggests legitimacy but business practices don't

The verdict? Given the established fact that algae oil costs more than fish oil to produce, some of these price points simply don't make sense — unless what's being sold isn't primarily algae oil at all.

What’s Behind the Algae Oil Boom?

When you dig into the actual market data, a different picture emerges about what's driving the algae oil industry — and it's not your kitchen needs. The global algae oil market hit $1.83 billion in 2023 and projects growth to $2.63 billion by 2032. But here's what's interesting: this growth isn't coming from cooking oil demand.

The real drivers? Environmental concerns and industrial applications. The market's expansion stems primarily from biofuel production, where algae oil serves as a low-carbon, low-sulfur alternative to fossil fuels. United Airlines recently demonstrated this priority by investing in microalgae transformation for Sustainable Aviation Fuel through their UAV Sustainable Flight Fund.

The pharmaceutical industry also plays a major role, using algae oil in drugs, antiviral formulations, and antifungals. The cooking oil trend appears almost as an afterthought — a way to capitalize on existing industrial production.

This becomes clearer when examining U.S. producers. Take Algae Production Systems in Texas, which is mentioned in a market research as a company that focuses on innovative methods for algae cultivation and oil extraction. 

 When looking them up in business directories, they're classified under "Basic Chemical Manufacturing," "Nuclear fuel and cores," and general "Manufacturing" — doesn’t sound like something wholesome can come up out of there.

The Health Claims: What Research Actually Shows?

Well, finding actual health benefits related to algae oil consumption turned out to be pretty challenging. About 70% of all research related to this keyword is focused on biofuels, and another 20% looks into processing methods and stability enhancement. And there's something quite telling about mainstream health websites (e.g., this review by Healthline) — they mostly end up linking to general omega-3 benefits when discussing algae oil, pretty well showing how limited the food-specific research is.

So what do we actually know? Scientists did find some interesting results when they gave algae oil to rats with optic nerve damage. The rats received daily doses through feeding tubes for a week, and yes, their vision improved. The treatment also reduced inflammation and helped preserve healthy cells. But we should remember that getting oil through a feeding tube is quite different from cooking with it. And well, rats are not humans.

And some findings are a bit concerning. Research on juvenile rabbits showed that algae-rich diets affected their reproductive development. The diets reduced certain types of follicles while increasing others, potentially leading to early maturation — something that might not be so great for overall development.

Scientists also looked into using specific types of algae oil (PO and LO) for metabolic health. The mice in this study showed reduced weight gain and better insulin sensitivity. The oils even helped with gut bacteria balance. And yes, these results seemed quite promising, matching or beating fish oil in some ways. But so far, we're still talking about small animal studies, not large scale research on people.

Why Does This Matters and How to Navigate the Trend?

So what's really going on with algae oil? Its market growth isn't all about cooking oil (although the trend I am researching in this report is) — it's pretty much all about biofuel and pharmaceuticals.

The companies listed as algae oil producers in the US are registered under "Basic Chemical Manufacturing" and "Nuclear fuel and cores". These are chemical companies, not food producers.

United Airlines is pretty excited about algae too (they even invested $5 million in it) — but they want it for airplane fuel, not salad dressing. 

So maybe we should think twice about swapping our olive oil for something that's processed in chemical plants and studied mainly for industrial use. The marketing sounds good, but the research just isn't there to support using this as an everyday cooking oil. And when companies won't even tell us basic things about their products or where they're made, well, that's pretty concerning.

For now, you might want to stick with oils that have years of research behind them and come from companies that are quite open about what they're selling. After all, we already have plenty of good options for getting our omega-3s from sources we understand pretty well.