An Overview of the Use of Fatty Acids in Fish Farming Research during the Last Decade, with Particular Emphasis on Fish Quality

The present literature overview was carried out in order to assess the use of fatty acids (FA) analysis in fish farming research during the last decade. As aquaculture products are mainly intended for human consumption, the overview is focused on fish fillet, carcass or whole body FA, as a major aspect of fish nutritional value. This survey used 394 papers and demonstrated that a) 71% of papers report FA as relative percentage of total FA (% totFA), b) 23% of papers report actual FA amounts, c) in 63% of papers not enough information is provided in Materials and Methods section to understand exactly how FA analysis was performed, and d) based on FA percentages, results are not always the same as when based on FA amounts, and thus divergent conclusions about treatment effects could be drawn. These findings indicate that certain issues need to be addressed regarding adequate description of analytical methods followed for FA analysis, presentation and interpretation of FA results and may help to highlight critical points that should be considered from the researchers' and scientific journals' sides in order to foster more informative research publications.