Marine Bivalves as a Dietary Source of High-Quality Lipid: A Review with Special Reference to Natural n-3 Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
Abstract
The most important nutritional feature of mollusks is their lipid composition. Marine bivalves are a good source of high quality lipid, mainly because they concentrate eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. Meanwhile, these n-3 Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (LC-PUFAs) are essential in the fight against inflammation, preventing depression, reducing weight and waist size, decreasing liver fat and promoting mental wellbeing. Typically, marine bivalves have a low saturated fatty acid content and a high n-3 LC-PUFA concentration, which is usually absent in most foods. Freshwater bivalves generally contain lower proportions of n-3 PUFA than marine bivalves; the lipid quality also differ in farmed and wild species. The focus of this review is on physiological important n-3 LC-PUFA present in marine bivalves, with an emphasis on the indicators for assessing quality and the effects of heat on bivalve lipid.
a) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
b) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
c) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).