Dietary lipid sources as a means of changing fatty acid composition in fish: Implications for food fortification

Abstract

Fish consumption is the most important source of n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the human diet. • Marine fish have specific requirements for arachidonic, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, while freshwater and salmonid fish can convert C 18 polyunsaturated fatty acids of both n-6 and n-3 series to their longer chain. • Fish species differences in fatty acid essentiality are highly related to fatty acid desaturase and elongase abilities. • How the actual acknowledgement on fish lipid metabolism can be used for selecting fish strains that provide high levels of n-3 chain polyunsaturated fatty acids for human consumers remains still largely unexplored. • Eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid from fisheries are not enough to cover the theoretical needs of the human population. • Strategies for improving the nutritional fatty acid profile of fish should exploit different means of dietary intervention. • Changes in fillet fatty acid composition after switches in dietary fatty acid composition follow a simple dilution model. • Multilinear regression approaches from dietary information and fish adiposity are highly valuable tools to predict the fillet fatty acid composition through all the productive cycle of farmed fish. • Updated information on feedstuffs contaminants does not represent a serious concern with the advent of alternative diets. • The challenge in the future is to assure the production of high quality fish according to the human nutritional guidelines and the concomitant policies for a sustainable utilization of marine resources as fish feed ingredients.