Fish Oil Dissolving Styrofoam!

This is the response by the makers of the fish oil shown in the video:

Thank you for your inquiry.
No worries, this stunt was debunked a number of years ago. This have everything to do with chemistry, not about safety. Here’s what it actually means:

While most people are alarmed when they see the reaction that Fish oil has with Styrofoam in chemical terms, these reactions are normal and expected. All edible oils are made up of fatty acids and these fatty acids are made up of a long chain of hydrocarbon molecules. With fish oils, some contain triglycerides and some contain ethyl esters, both the triglyceride form and the ethyl ester form first need to be digested and broken down to a free fatty acid for absorption from the GI tract. After uptake, the free fatty acid is then converted to a triglyceride form by the addition of already available triglycerides from circulating lipids (fats).

In the example of fish oils, ALL will react with Styrofoam over time; the length of time is determined by the number of chemical bonds in each type of fish oil. Triglycerides will take longer to react with the cup, while oils bonded to ethyl esters, which have more chemical bonds, will penetrate the cup wall faster.

In Chemistry there is a common saying to describe how polar and non-polar solvents react with similar solutes, “like dissolves like”. Both edible oils and Styrofoam are non-polar; by edible oils, we are referring to crude items like Olive oil, Palm Oil and Fish oils; which are all alike in that they are non-polar.

Chemical Polarity plays a role in how compounds react with one another. Polarity refers to the electro-magnetic charges of a molecule, or the attraction between the positively and negatively charged parts of a molecule. Compounds are considered polar due to the unequal sharing or electrons, water is a polar compound. A compound is non-polar when the electric charge is balanced, edible oils are non-polar. With magnetic fields, like charges oppose one another, opposites attract. With polarity, compounds with differing polarity do not react (mix), those with like polarity do mix, a chemical reaction occurs when a non-polar compound comes into contact with another non-polar one, like when fish oil is put into a Styrofoam cup. We all know that oil and water do not mix, water being polar will not react (mix) with oil which is non-polar. “Like dissolves like.” Two common compounds, sugar and salt, are both polar and being polar in nature they readily mix with water, another “polar” compound.

Polystyrene, a moisture resistant foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, is formed from a long chain of polymers. This plastic is used in the manufacture of coffee cups and plates as an insulator and other packaging materials, this also happens to be non-polar. What makes Styrofoam ideal for keeping hot beverages hot and cold beverages cold is that as a non-polar compound, it will not react with the water used to make coffee, tea and other beverages. This same material will react with any form of edible oil; this can be olive oil, lemon oil and fish oil. This reaction is naturally occurring and is based solely upon the chemical properties of both compounds and the polarity of each.

See also: https://honestnutrition.blogspot.com/2013/05/does-fish-oil-dissolve-styrofoam-and-is.html

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