Nutrient and Fatty Acid Composition of Pike Perch (Sander lucioperca) and Evaluation of Important Indexes Related to Human Health

Abstract

The nutrient and fatty acid composition of the muscle tissues in the dorsal (D), ventral (V), and caudal (C) regions of the pike perch were determined in this study. Pike perch had 19.63% protein, 0.92% lipid, 78.36% moisture, and 1.04% ash. The whole muscle (WM) (0.92%) of pike perch had the highest lipid content, followed by C (0.82%), V (0.73%), and D regions (0.69%). The results of the study revealed that total polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (32.37%–37.05%) values were higher than those of total saturated fatty acids (SFA) (29.96%–31.76%) and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) (17.26%–20.81%) in all whole muscle (WM) and different regions (D, V, and C) of the pike perch. The highest SFA, MUFA, and PUFA amounts were in D, WM, and D regions, respectively. In all groups, the amount of Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (12.97-15.43%) was higher than Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (5.66-6.97%). While there was no difference between regions in terms of EPA value, the difference between regions in terms of DHA values was found to be important (p <0.05). The highest EPA and DHA values were detected in the D region. Atherogenicity index (AI) (0.47–0.48), thrombogenicity index (TI) (0.33–0.35), hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic ratio (H/H) (1.53–1.57) and n-6/n-3 (0.47–0.51) ratios were at recommended levels in all regions (WM, D, V, and C) and there was no regional difference (p > 0.05). The results showed that the fatty acid composition of the pike perch varies according to different body regions, it is rich in nutrient content and has the recommended level of AI, TI, H/H, and n-6/n-3 ratios. It can be concluded that pike perch has beneficial health effects on human nutrition.