Abstract
The aim of the present study was to measure and evaluate the total lipids, fatty acid profile, retinol content and alpha-tocopherol content in the edible tissue of four commercially important fish species from the Bulgarian Black sea: Sprat ( Sprattus sprattus), Round Goby ( Neogobius rattan ), Black Sea Horse Mackerel ( Trahurus medditeraneus ponticus ) and Shad ( Alosa pontica ). Fat soluble vitamins were analyzed simultaneously using an HPLC system. The highest content of retinol was established in the Sprat (142.3 ± 4.4 μg/100g) and the highest content of alphatocopherol was found in the Black Sea Horse Mackerel (1112.7 ± 39.2 μg/100g). The fatty acid (FA) composition was analyzed by GC/MS. The content of omega 3 (n3) FAs was significantly higher (p , 0.001) than the content of omega 6 (n6) FAs in each of the analyzed fish samples. The n6/n3 FA ratio was within the recommended range (0.20–1.50) for Sprat, Round Goby and Shad. Relatively high levels of retinol and alpha-tocopherol, FA composition, n3/n6 FA and PUFA/SFA ratios indicate that these fish species have good nutritional quality.
Highlights
Fish is an important component of a healthy diet, providing a number of substantial nutrients that are essential for achieving a balanced nutrition for children, adults and the elderly
The lowest total lipid content was found in the Round Goby (1.60 6 0.05g.100g–1r.t.) followed by the Sprat (2.5 6 0.09g.100g–1r.t.) and the Black Sea Horse Mackerel (4.15 6 0.15g.100g–1r.t.), whereas the Shad (13.15 6 0.25g.100g–1r.t.) was the fish with the highest content of total lipids (Fig. 1)
Goby H. mackerel Shad in the Sprat, while the Black Sea Horse Mackerel was the richest source of alpha-tocopherol among the analyzed fish species
Summary
Fish is an important component of a healthy diet, providing a number of substantial nutrients that are essential for achieving a balanced nutrition for children, adults and the elderly. Fish tissue is a good source of fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Lipids of marine fish species are rich sources of fat soluble vitamins and both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (Tocher, 2003). The fat soluble vitamins are essential nutrients related to a diversity of biologically important processes in the human body. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) derived from fish lipids are key constituents of membrane phos pholipids, precursors for the biosynthesis of biolo gically important hormone-like substances such as eicosanoids. Seawater fish fatty acid (FA) composition is unique and is characterized by low levels of n6 FA (linoleic acid LA, C18:2 n6) and high levels of n3 PUFA (eicosapentaenoic acid, EPA C20:5n3; docosahexaenoic acid, DHA C22:6n3) (Tanakol et al, 1999; Tocher, 2003; Abas et al, 2009)
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