The Role of Chicken Meat Fatty Acids and Lipid Indices in Healthy Human Nutrition: Scientific Literature Review

Chicken meat is a significant source of nutrients. It contains bioactive components that affect metabolic processes in the human body and have a positive effect on health. The modern diet pays attention to the content and properties of fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), i.e., PUFA n-6 and PUFA n-3, are important in human nutrition. This paper elaborates on the importance of chicken meat in human nutrition by putting emphasis on the intake of lipid components. It also explains PUFA n-6 and PUFA n-3 metabolism and highlights supplementation of animal diet as a way to enrich meat with PUFA n-3. Some authors recommend the health lipid indices to be used in the assessment of chicken meat quality with respect to the degree of fat saturation. Qualitative indices (PUFA/SFA, PUFA n-6/PUFA n-3, LA/ALA, and EPA+DHA), nutritional indices (AI, TI, hHI), and metabolic indices (EI, THI, Δ 9 desaturase and Δ-5+Δ-6 desaturase) are used in such assessment. When calculating the indices, certain saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids are considered.