Correlations between cholesterol content, fatty acid composition and health lipid indices in fat of chosen tissues and organs of finishing pigs

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate fatty acid composition, health related lipid indices (atherogenic-AI and thrombogenic-IT indices, h/H ratio) and the correlation between these traits and cholesterol content in various tissues of fatteners. The experiment involved 60 crossbred pigs (PL × PLW) × Duroc. The animals were slaughtered at 115 ± 2.0 kg body weight. The tissue samples (backfat, m. longissimus, liver, heart) were collected to analyze fatty acid profile and cholesterol content. The highest PUFA level was determined in the fat of the heart and liver. Weak to moderate correlations were observed between cholesterol content and most of the studied indices of fatty acid profile of the analyzed tissues. Importantly, the most significant correlations were established between the examined traits in the heart fat. Generally, irrespective of tissue type, the cholesterol level was negatively correlated with total PUFA, n-3 and n-6 FA content and h/H ratio.