It took krill oil manufacturers more than 8 years to launch a liquid krill oil product. Azantis Inc. came to market with exactly such product in February 2013. The liquid is a liposomal product, meaning that the krill oil is evenly dispersed in water. This allows the liquid krill oil to be blended into more water, smoothies, yogurt or other drinks. The Azantis liquid krill oil, branded as AquaKrill, has a sweet and orange flavor.
WellWise reviewed the Azantis liquid krill oil and it seems to be a good solution for anyone who doesn't like to take pills. It's also a good form of krill oil for kids. Most children hate to take softgels, and especially children with autism seem resistant to large omega 3 pills, despite the fact that they are good for them. We have said it before on other WellWise pages: DHA omega 3 is essential for brain, eye and nerve development. Unlike fish oils, krill oil has 40% omega 3 phospholipids, which are in exactly the same form as what is found in the eye, brain and nerve cells.
The AquaKrill liquid krill oil comes in 120 ml (4 oz) bottles and doesn't need refrigeration until it's opened. The bottles are sealed and topped with nitrogen. Once opened, the nitrogen loses its protective power, and it's important to keep the liquid krill oil refrigerated. It's also recommended to use it within 30 days from opening.
Ideal form of krill oil for children
The recommended daily dose is 4 ml, which has 25% pure Antarctic krill oil, or 1,000 mg. The 4 ml is a little less than a teaspoon of 4.9 ml. When we tasted the AquaKrill straight out of the bottle the sweetness was intense. Children may like that, but we agree with the manufacturer that the best taste experience can be had when the liquid krill oil is diluted with a shot glass of water (approximately 9 parts water and 1 part AquaKrill).
This ratio gives the liquid krill oil a taste that's comparable with the sweet and orangy flavor of vitamin C water. The vitamin water is a bit more tart, because of the vitamin C, and the liquid krill oil leaves a faint fatty taste on the back of the tongue. That taste is in no way fishy, but it lingers nevertheless. The likely reason is that the krill phospolipids merge into the taste buds. The lingering fat taste only disappeared after we had something else to eat. So we suggest to take the liquid krill oil in water diluted form before breakfast.
The liquid product out of the bottle is like a red syrup, and one needs to stir it well if it is blended into water, a smoothie, or yogurt.
We also let the water with the AquaKrill sit for a couple of days in a small water bottle. The mix did separate after a day or so, but one or two shakes will make it disperse again. For this reason we don't recommend to have the full AquaKrill bottle blended with a large water bottle for a full month supply. We believe the liquid krill oil will stay better in the original manufacturer's bottle. One should also keep contamination in mind; blending water over the kitchen sink and let it stew for a few days is less clean than one would think. In short, don't blend more than a one day dose.
Liquid krill oil in yogurt
We also tried to blend it with yogurt. The initial response was negative, because the sourness of the plain goat yogurt that we used, eliminated the sweet taste, which covers the krill taste.
Only when we added a teaspoon of maple syrup, we got a very delicious orange yogurt taste back. Again, the bottom line is that one needs to experiment a bit to adjust the taste to one's own preferences.
Our verdict is that AquaKrill is a perfect liquid krill oil, well suited for children and for anyone else who doesn't like pills. Anyone with picky children should give it a try.
Smoothie lovers should also give it a try. We have not tried it with any smoothie or protein shake yet, but anyone who has a good recipe, please send us an email.
Other suggestions are blends with vitamin waters, athletic drinks, and energy drinks. And what about applesauce? Cottage cheese? Keep in mind that any sour taste will take away the sweetness from the liquid krill oil, and bring forth its fatty taste.
Where to buy liquid krill oil?
At the time of this review, AquaKrill was sold by Healthium.net and PrimeMetabolics.com. PrimeMetabolics seems to target health care practitioners and has volume discounts for 5 and 12 bottles. The price is around $45 and is comparable to high end pricing of the equivalent sixty 500 mg softgels.
Why did it take so long?
Why didn’t we see refrigerated liquid krill oil on grocery store shelves, like you do cod liver oil or other marine-based omega 3 oils for so long?
Pure Antarctic krill oil is a tricky product to produce and sell. Within minutes of being harvested from the icy waters or the Antarctic, oxygen begins to break down the phospholipids. This is bad, because phospholipids are what allow the omega 3s in krill oil to be absorbed into the body so efficiently.
Ships that harvest krill must have special equipment that either immediately freezes the catch or remove the water and dry the krill into a meal. Once the phospholipids and other oils have been extracted from the meal, a very sensitive oil results. This bulk krill oil cannot be exposed to air, because that would start the oxidation process. This is why you won’t see krill oil in liquid bulk oil bottles on grocery store shelves – the oxygen that enters the bulk oil bottle each time you open it would allow the pure krill oil to quickly become rancid. Producers of krill oil softgel caps (the common delivery system) are able to deal with this problem by creating an oxygen-free environment beneath a nitrogen blanket while encapsulating it.
And then there’s the smell. Poorly extracted krill oil smells terrible, and even a high-quality premium product has a smell and taste that most people would find unpleasant. Especially children will resist taking raw krill oil on a spoon. If you remember your own cod-liver-oil ordeal, than think twice before wanting to take a liquid krill oil spoonful. Again, encapsulation in gelatin softgels has, for most manufacturers, been a good solution to control smell and taste issues.
Azantis has overcome these problems in their AquaKrill oil by using the cleanest and freshest raw krill oil.
The third reason why we had to wait so long to see liquid krill oil in the health food store’s refrigerator next to the cod liver oil, is the dosing. Pure Antarctic krill oil is an expensive product which sells for $20 per ounce. So an eight ounce bulk krill oil bottle would cost $160. At that price you want to be very careful with how much you take, and a spoonful is not the most accurate measure. Azantis overcame this issue by solubilizing the oil in 75% water. This dilution makes it easier to measure a teaspoon, rather than a 1/4 teaspoon.
Liquid krill oil will take a few months to show up in your grocery or health food store, but considering that liquid krill oil may become a popular product with mothers wanting to provide high-quality omega 3s with no fear that their child might choke on a pill or capsule, it could very well become a hot product.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this krill oil forum is a public service of WellWise.org, and should not in any way substitute for the advice of a qualified healthcare professional and is not intended to constitute personal medical advice.
WellWise reviewed the Azantis liquid krill oil and it seems to be a good solution for anyone who doesn't like to take pills. It's also a good form of krill oil for kids. Most children hate to take softgels, and especially children with autism seem resistant to large omega 3 pills, despite the fact that they are good for them. We have said it before on other WellWise pages: DHA omega 3 is essential for brain, eye and nerve development. Unlike fish oils, krill oil has 40% omega 3 phospholipids, which are in exactly the same form as what is found in the eye, brain and nerve cells.
Only when we added a teaspoon of maple syrup, we got a very delicious orange yogurt taste back. Again, the bottom line is that one needs to experiment a bit to adjust the taste to one's own preferences. 
