Assessment of Lipid Quality Indices of Fish from the Barguzin River (Eastern Cisbaikalia)

The importance of fish as a component of healthy nutrition and as a high-quality source of nutrients in the human diet has increased in recent years. To assess the nutritional value of the six main commercial fish species (common roach Rutilus rutilus, common bream Abramis brama, crucian carp Carassius carassius, crucian carp Carassius carassius, common carp Cyprinus carpio, European perch Perca fluviatilis, and northern pike Esox lucius) from the Barguzin River (Eastern Cisbaikalia), the FA composition and lipid quality indices of the muscle tissues have been determined. The FA composition of the dorsal muscle tissue of fish has been analyzed by direct methanolysis. The total content of SFAs ranges from 26 rel. % in carp to 37 rel. % in bream, MUFAs from 17 rel. % in perch to 32 rel. % in carp, and PUFAs from 42 rel. % in bream and carp to 54 rel. % in pike. The dominant FAs are palmitic 16:0 (17.5–29.2 rel. %), oleic 18:1(n-9) (17.5–29.2 rel. %), and stearic 18:0 (5.0–8.0 rel. %) acids, as well as PUFAs, including essential docosahexaenoic 22:6(n-3) (9.7–24.9 rel. %), eicosapentaenoic 20:5(n-3) (9.2–19.1 rel. %), and arachidonic 20:4(n-6) (6.9–10.1 rel. %) acids. The Σ(n-3)/Σ(n-6) ratio of PUFAs is 2.8–4.6, which is typical for freshwater fish. Relatively high nutritive value index (NVI), values of the health-promoting index (HPI), and ratio of hypercholesterolemic to hypocholesterolemic FAs (HH), the as well as the atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indices (<1), indicate the high nutritional value of the muscle tissue of the studied fish species. According to the content of (n-3) PUFAs and high total ratio of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, the most valuable species are European perch and northern pike.