title: Healthy n-6/n-3 fatty acid composition from five European game meat species remains after cooking.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intensive farming of livestock along with recent food scandals and consumer deception have increased awareness about risks for human nutrition. In parallel, the demand for meat obtained under more natural conditions from animals that can freely forage has largely increased. Interestingly, the consumption of game meat has not become more common despite its excellent quality and content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We addressed the question if game meat fatty acid composition is modified through kitchen preparation. By analysing muscle fatty acid (FA) composition (polar and total lipids) of five European game species in a raw and a processed state, we aimed to quantify the proportion of PUFA that are oxidised and hydrogenated during processing. All game meat species originated from local hunters and free-living individuals. To mimic a realistic situation a professional chef prepared the meat samples with gentle use of heat in a standardised way.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Expectedly, the overall content of polyunsaturated fatty acids declined during the cooking process but the decrease size was <5% and the nutritiously most important n-3/n-6 ratio was not affected by processing (F1,54 = 0.46; p = 0.5). Generally, our samples contained species-specific high PUFA and n-3 FA contents but we point out that differentiating between species is necessary.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Game meat thus provides a healthy meat source, as cooking does not substantially alter its favourable fatty acid composition. Further research is needed to elucidate species-specific differences and the role of habitat quality and locomotion for tissue composition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160, Vienna, Austria. teresa.valencak@vetmeduni.ac.at.
authors.forename: Teresa G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Valencak
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160, Vienna, Austria. lisal_gamsjaeger@yahoo.de.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gamsjäger
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160, Vienna, Austria. s.ohrnberger@gmx.at.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohrnberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160, Vienna, Austria. n.culbert@iaea.org.
authors.forename: Nicole J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Culbert
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1, 1160, Vienna, Austria. Thomas.ruf@vetmeduni.ac.at.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ruf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003296:Cooking; D003670:Deer; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000032:analysis*; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6 / Q000032:analysis*; D046094:Galliformes; D034621:Hares; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis*; D034421:Sus scrofa
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D043371:Fatty Acids, Omega-6