Manipulating the Fatty Acid Composition of Poultry Meat for Improving Consumer’s Health

Abstract

Dietary intake of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Meanwhile, animal products have been criticized for their high content of saturated fatty acids (SFA), being damaging to health. Modification of animal diets can now easily increase the proportion of UFA in animal products. The aim of this experiment was to determine the effect of feeding fat source - flaxseeds, on the fatty acid composition of chicken muscles and to raise the content of long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The experiment was conducted on 10 broilers, divided into two groups: control and experimental. Birds were given access to water and diets ad libitum. The experimental diet was formulated by adding 15% dietary flaxseeds to the basal diet. The experiment lasted for 42 days. Group 1 shows a minimum fat percentage (1.96%), followed by group two which presents a higher percentage (4.3%). Proportion of water and protein varies inversely with the amount of fat. Broilers fed a normal diet had higher proportion s of saturated fatty acids (the average of the two tissues) and those fed with flaxseed had the highest valu es of α-linolenic acid (C18: 3 n3) in both muscle groups. It was shown that flaxseed influenced lipid composition of thigh meat more than breast meat.