Emulsified fish oil presents EPA and DHA as pre-formed emulsion droplets rather than as bulk oil.
Investigators propose this reduces the amount of gastric and bile-mediated emulsification the gut has to perform before absorption, though that mechanism is reasoning offered in discussion sections, not a measured endpoint.
Single-dose pharmacokinetic trials do support greater short-term omega-3 absorption from emulsified preparations than from the same oil unemulsified, but the size of the advantage varies widely by product: roughly 3-fold for EPA from a pre-emulsified oil blend (Garaiova 2007), roughly 1.5-fold for total omega-3 from a consumer emulsion against its own parent oil in capsules (Raatz 2009), and no advantage at all for one of three commercial emulsions tested head to head (Raatz 2016).
The largest multiples reported, in the 7-fold to 8-fold range, come from pharmaceutical self-emulsifying delivery systems paired with ethyl ester oil, not from consumer emulsions or puddings (Maki 2018, Bremmell 2020).
Every trial below is a single-dose study measuring plasma fatty acids.