Fatty acid composition analyses of commercially important fish species from the Pearl River Estuary, China

Abstract

Evaluation of fish nutritional content information could provide essential guidance for seafood consumption and human health protection. This study investigated the lipid contents, fatty acid compositions, and nutritional qualities of 22 commercially important marine fish species from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), South China Sea. All the analyzed species had a low to moderate lipid content (0.51-7.35% fat), with no significant differences in fatty acid profiles among fishes from different lipid categories (p > 0.05). Compared with previous studies from other regions, the examined fish species exhibited higher proportions of saturated fatty acids (SFAs, 39.1 ± 4.00%) and lower contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs, 21.6 ± 5.44%), presumably due to the shifted diet influence from increased diatoms and decreased dinoflagellate over the past decades in the PRE. This study further revealed that there was a significantly negative correlation between the trophic levels and levels of PUFAs in the examined species (Pearson's r =-0.42, p = 0.04), likely associated with their differed dietary composition. Considering the health benefit of PUFAs, a few marine fish in PRE with low levels of PUFAs might have no significant contribution to the cardiovascular disease prevention, although fish with different fatty acid profiles most likely contribute differently towards human health. Additional studies are needed in order to comprehensively analyze the nutritional status of fish species in the PRE.

Evaluation of fatty acid‐related nutritional quality indices in fried and raw nile tilapia, (Oreochromis Niloticus), fish muscles

“…The higher value of this index is considered to be desirable. Thus, in the current study the ratio is relatively similar in the fried (1.09) and raw (1.02) fish muscles (Estuary et al, 2020;Karimian-khosroshahi et al, 2016).…”

“…Index of P/S ratio refers to the fraction of the PUFAs over SFAs. Indices of atherogenicity (IA), thrombogenicity (IT), and hypocholesterolemic/ hypercholesterolemic fatty acids (HH) were calculated with following formulas (Estuary et al, 2020; Palacin-arce, Monteagudo, Beasjimenez, Olea-Serrano, & Mariscal-Arcas, 2015).…”

“…The n-6/n-3 ratio is useful for determining fatty acid quality of food products. Lower ratio indicates that the food is very helpful in preventing coronary heart disease, whereas the higher ratio increases the risk (Beigi et al, 2014;Estuary et al, 2020). The ratio was 7.83 for fried fish muscle and 0.90 for raw fish muscle indicating increased in the fried sample.…”

“…This index is very useful to reflect both effects of unsaturated mainly polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids. Hence, a ratio of less than 0.45 is accounted as undesirable as the higher could probably increase the cholesterol in the blood (Estuary et al, 2020;Flores et al, 2018;Jayasena, Fernando, & Awanthika, 2018). In the current study, the ratio is 0.216 in the fried and 0.474 in the raw fish muscle.…”

“…The high index of atherogenicity (IA) and thrombogenicity (IT) values is responsible for the formation of atheroma and stimulates aggregation of platelets in our cardiovascular system. Hence, the lower values of these indices are desirable as they are considered to prevent the cardiovascular disorders (Estuary et al, 2020;Karimian-khosroshahi et al, 2016). In the current study,…”