Assessment of EPA, DHA and DPA Level in Fish Food Cooked Using South Asian Method

Abstract

Fish play an important role in human nutrition as they contain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; C20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22:6n-3) and docosapentoenoic acid ( DPA,C20:5n-3) These particularly, omega-3 fatty acids play a role in preventing heart disease and have anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombolytic effects. The commonly consumed marine fishes ( n=8) used to assess the amount of EPA, DHA and DPA in raw fish as well as the cooked fish with coconut milk and fried with coconut oil. The results show that fatty acid compositions changed significantly during fish preparation by either cooking as curry or frying in coconut oil, and resulted in lower nutritive values than raw fish. Particularly, the healthy lipids EPA and DHA have been lost during fish preparation. These results reveal that traditional Asian fish cooking and frying method are not good method of fish processing for consumption. The adding to the evidence that consuming fried fish is less beneficial to human health than eating fish cooked in coconut cream as curry.