Maria Grazia Manca

Documentation of Fatty Acid Profiles in Lamb Meat and Lamb‐Based Infant Foods

UNLABELLED Lamb meat, when used in the weaning diet of children, is presumed to have a lower allergenicity than other forms of red meat. In children with atopic dermatitis and multiple food hypersensitivities, consumption of lamb meat has also resulted in significant clinical improvements in the severity of the eczematous lesions. Lamb meat is also of special interest in infant nutrition because it provides a somewhat unique fatty acid (FA) profile that mirrors what is thought to be optimal for neonatal growth and development. However, very little is known about how the processing of fresh meat (FM) into prepared infant foods influences its FA composition. In this study, we compared the FA profile of FM from suckling lambs with those of homogenized (HO) and lyophilized (LIO) baby foods prepared primarily with lamb meat. The results show that the content of total omega-3 polyunsaturated FAs was the highest in FM (more than 3-fold) compared to commercial baby food, due to largely higher contents of α-linolenic acid (1.5-fold higher), eicosapentaenoic acid (6-fold higher), and docosahexaenoic acid (10-fold higher). Furthermore, arachidonic acid was more than 6-fold higher in FM compared to LIO and HO. Results from this study suggest the possibility of enhancing the FA profile of commercial baby food based on meat by using lamb meat, but care should be taken during processing so that important FAs are not lost. PRACTICAL APPLICATION In this article, we have documented that meat from the suckling lamb is an interesting and potentially important source of omega-3-FAs, especially some of the long-chain polyunsaturated FAs (LC-PUFAs) that are essential for optimal neonatal growth and development. These results may have special implications to the infant food industry, in that products made using meat from suckling lambs may provide not only exceptional amounts of these FAs, but also other limiting essential nutrients such as iron. This may be especially important in regions of the world, such as Italy, where use of lamb meat as a weaning food is common during infancy.

Influence of outdoor and indoor rearing system of suckling lambs on fatty acid profile and lipid oxidation stability of raw and cooked meat

Effect of outdoor (OUT) or indoor (IND) rearing systems (RS) of 48 male and female Sarda suckling lambs on fatty acid (FA) composition and lipid oxidation of raw and cooked meat was studied. Ewes grazed daily on natural pasture for 6 h. During grazing time of ewes, IND lambs were kept indoors whereas OUT lambs followed the mother. Slaughter age was 28 days. RS did not affect meat chemical composition, pH, cooking loss and FA profile. Microwave cooking changed markedly the concentrations of almost all meat FAs and FA classes: short (-28%) and medium chain fatty acids (-11%), saturated fatty acids (-7.6%), odd-number carbon and branched-chain FA (-11.8%), proportion of long chain fatty acids (+5.3%) and PUFAn3 (+37.3%) and PUFAn6 (+26.1%) class. Sex influenced significantly the concentration of the main odd-number carbon and branched chain fatty acid. OUT rearing system increased MDA concentration (P<0.01). RS × cooking interaction affected PUFA and MDA, which were higher in cooked samples of OUT than IND lambs. The results evidenced that the meat composition of suckling lambs is affected by the feeding system of the mother rather than the management system of lambs.

Light-induced lipid oxidation in sheep milk: effects of dietary grape seed and linseed, alone or in combination, on milk oxidative stability.

The present work aimed to investigate the milk oxidative stability when the sheep diet includes a source of polyphenols (grape seed, (GS)) and a source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linseed, (LIN)), alone or in combination (MIX) compared to a control group (CON). For this purpose light-induced oxidation in milk was studied. After 24 h of light exposure the lipid hydroperoxides increased in milk in the LIN and MIX groups. The calculated ratio between the level of lipid hydroperoxides and unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) in milk was lower in the GS and MIX than in the LIN group. At the same time the level of the ratio between hexanal/linoleic acid in milk was lower in the GS and MIX than in the CON group. Although the dietary inclusion of grape seed did not reduce the level of lipid oxidation products in sheep milk, it effectively reduced the extent of oxidation of UFA.

Comparison of fatty acid profile in lamb meat and baby food based on lamb meat

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the fatty acid (FA) profile of fresh lamb mea with those of baby foods based on lamb meat. For this purpose, samples of commercial homogenized (HO) and (LIO) baby food based on lamb meat and fresh lamb meat (FM) were analyzed lyophilized for their FA composition. All fatty acids, except for oleic acid and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), differed among the three baby products tested. The sum of omega-6 FA and the ratio omega 6/omega 3 FA were lower in FM and LIO meat compared to HO samples. The content of total PUFA n-3 was the highest in FM, because of its highest content of C18:3 n3, EPA, DPA and DHA compared to LIO and HO baby food. The content of arachidonic acid was more than 6-fold higher in FM compared to LIO and HO. This study evidenced the possibility of enhancing the FA profile of commercial baby food based on lamb meat by using meat with healthier FA profile. t

Effect of dietary oil supplementation on fatty acid profile of backfat and intramuscular fat in finishing pigs.

References Tbwo groups of finishing gilts were fed, for 4 weeks, a commercial feed enriched (2%) with either rapeseed oil or sunflower oil. Pig growth was monitored bi-weekly and the fatty acid composition of backfat and Longissimus muscle was determined after slaughtering. Type of dietary oil affected significantly the fatty acid profile of pork fat, especially the C18:3n-3 concentration which was higher in pigs fed rapeseed oil than in those fed sunflower oil. The content of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) of Longissimus muscle was significantly higher than that of backfat, due to the its higher concentration of C18:1cis9 and C16:1. Differently, the long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content was higher in backfat than in Longissimus muscle. These results confirm that it is possible to manipulate the fatty acid composition of the diet, in order to improve the health properties of the adipose tissues of pork meat.