PHYSIOLOGICAL RESEARCH  ISSN 0862-8408 (print)  ISSN 1802-9973 (online)  2009 Institute of Physiology v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic Fax +420 241 062 164, e-mail: physres@biomed.cas.cz, www.biomed.cas.cz/physiolres Physiol. Res. 58 (Suppl. 1): S39-S45, 2009 Importance of Knowledge on Lipid Composition of Foods to Support Development towards Consumption of Higher Levels of n-3 Fatty Acids via Freshwater Fish J. PICKOVA 1,2 1 Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 2 VURH, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic Received June 18, 2009 Accepted July 14, 2009 Summary The need of better labelling of fats in processed animal origin products is urgent. The lack of information makes it possible to exclude n-3 fatty acids in preparations of foods. The higher fat content, the higher n-6/n-3 ratio seems to be a rule. It is desirable to broaden the labelling into which oils have been used when foods are processed. The dietary balance of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids is important for homeostasis and normal development in humans. The ratio between n-6/n-3 fatty acids suggested to be evolutionary developed is between 1 and 4. The main conclusion is that the fat sources used during processing and preparation of convenient foods have the largest impact on the food FA content and composition. A proposal is therefore that this should be declared on the product label especially the n-3 FA content. It is also of large importance to increase consumption of freshwater fish fed suitable feeds containing n-3 fatty acids in central Europe to enable a generally lower n-6/n-3 ratio in the human diet. Therefore optimizing feeds to freshwater fish in culture is urgent and important. Key words DHA • EPA • freshwater fish • n-6/n-3 ratio Corresponding author J. Pickova, Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7051, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail: Jana.Pickova@lmv.slu.se Background During the previous century and even more pronounced in the latest decades an increasing part of the Western diet is composed of fast and convenient foods (Hagman et al. 1986, Baggio and Bragaguolo 2006), often rich in saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of the n-6 series, (Taylor et al. 2000, Saguy and Dana 2003, Baggio and Bragaguolo 2006). In general, the total amount of PUFA in the Western diet has decreased, while at the same time, the ratio between n-6/n-3 PUFA has increased (Ailhaud et al. 2006, Anon, Dept of Health UK, 1994). This change is very obvious in children’s diet and effects are visible. A Swedish study of 4 year old children showed on this trend, the intake of SFA was higher and total PUFA, especially the n-3 fatty acids (FA), lower than the general recommendations (Garemo et al. 2007). We know that fish consumption is low and meat has become a relatively important source of long chain PUFA for many people (Kyle and Arterburn 1998, Scollan et al. 2001, Howe et al. 2006, De Henauw et al. 2007). As examples: in Sweden fish provides 5 % of the total consumption of food and beverages at home, while meat contributes with 17 % (www.scb.se), in Czech Republic the fish consumption per year is 1.5 kg compared to the average of total EU countries of 5 kg freshwater fish (www.zdrava-vyziva.net). In the Swedish study on 4 year old children 3 % of the total fat intake came from fish while meat and egg contributed with 22 % (Garemo et al. 2007). Earlier studies on lipid composition of animal origin foods have shown that the FA composition of animal products is significantly influenced by a number of factors such as diet, species, breed, age and gender of the animals (Sargent et al. 1999, Zanardi et al. 2000,