Borage Oil (Starflower Oil), GLA 20%

Borage oil, sold in European markets as starflower oil, is pressed from the seed of Borago officinalis L. and is the richest commercially available plant source of gamma-linolenic acid. Thovek guarantees a minimum 20.0% GLA, with typical lots falling between 20% and 25% of total fatty acids. The remainder of the profile is linoleic acid at 35–42%, oleic at 15–20%, palmitic at 9–12% and stearic at 3–5%, together with the long-chain monounsaturates that distinguish borage from evening primrose: eicosenoic acid (C20:1) at roughly 3–5% and erucic acid (C22:1) at 1–4%. That GLA density is the whole commercial argument for choosing borage over evening primrose. At 20% GLA a 1,000 mg fill delivers 200 mg of GLA and a 500 mg fill delivers 100 mg, so a brand can hit a target GLA per serving in a smaller softgel, fewer units per day, or with room left in the fill for a co-ingredient such as an omega-3 or a vitamin E carrier. Against evening primrose at 9–10%, borage roughly halves the oil volume required for the same GLA declaration — a material difference in capsule size, cost per serving and pill burden. Two compliance points deserve attention at the specification stage. Borage seed naturally carries pyrrolizidine alkaloids; conventional refining reduces PA content by around four orders of magnitude, and published work on processed borage oil found no PA above a 20 ppb detection limit, but EU maximum levels for pyrrolizidine alkaloids in botanical food supplements apply under Regulation (EU) 2023/915, so every lot ships with LC-MS/MS PA data rather than a generic statement. Second, borage oil is one of only three vegetable oils — with camelina and mustard — that keep a 50 g/kg maximum for erucic acid under Regulation (EU) 2019/1870 rather than the 20 g/kg general limit; a compliant borage oil would fail a generic vegetable-oil erucic specification, so buyers should write the correct limit into their own inbound spec. The oil is vegan and free of all major declarable allergens; the finished softgel's allergen and dietary status is set by the shell.