Chicken Breast Meat as a Food-Based Supplement for Dietary N-3 Fatty Acids

• Published in: Journal of the American Dietetic Association 1997-09, Vol.97 (9), p.A97-A97
• Main Authors: Lorenz, S.G., Van Elswyk, M.E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0002-8223; 1878-3570
• DOI: 10.1016/S0002-8223(97)00651-2

LEARNING OUTCOME: The learner will describe the lipid composition of poultry meat designed to serve as a functional food for increasing n-3 fatty acid consumption The U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend fish as a low-fat source of protein and n-3 fatty acids (n-3 FA). Dietary n-3 FA are believed useful for reducing heart disease risk and promoting neonatal development. Unfortunately, a disparity exists between nutritional recommendations and dietary practice, as consuming 2–3 fish meals per week is considered healthful but the current average U.S. consumption offish is only 1.3 meals per week. Functional foods have been proposed as food-based alternatives to dietary supplements for increasing the availability of certain desirable nutrients. The current study investigated the manipulation of poultry diets to include n-3 FA for the production of n-3 FA rich poultry meat. Meat-type chickens were fed diets containing either 8.4 g of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) from marine algae (MA) or 8.4 g DHA from menhaden oil (MO) for 28 days prior to commercial processing. Both diets yielded breast meat with similar total fat as typical breast meat, 2.0 and 1.7 g per 100 g serving, respectively. Importantly, however, both diets yielded significantly greater n-3 FA than that found in typical chicken breast meat (44±5 mg/100 g). The MA diet, however, produced breast meat containing 190±10 mg total n-3 FA per 100 g serving compared to the MO diet which yielded breast meat containing only 87±11 mg total n-3 FA per serving. An equivalent serving of lean fish typically contains between 100 and 300 mg total n-3 FA per 100 g serving, therefore, a serving of breast meat from a chicken fed MA would provide a similar n-3 FA content as lean fish. These data indicate that the manipulation of poultry rations to include MA results in a breast meat that can serve as a functional alternative to fish for increasing n-3 fatty acid consumption and thus promoting health.