A comparative analysis on the fatty acid profile of <i>Clarias gariepinus</i> oil and cod liver oil

Abstract

Research has shown that polyunsaturated fatty acids are found in fish oil. In Nigeria, majority of omega-3 oil sold are imported due to limited information on the health benefits of freshwater fish oils such as those from Clarias gariepinus. Hence oil from C. gariepinus was extracted via soxhlet extraction apparatus using petroleum ether as an extracting solvent. The fatty acid profiles of the extracted oil from C. gariepinus and that from commercially available Cod liver oil were assayed by gas chromatography. From the results, cod liver oil had a total saturated fatty acid concentration of 7.93 (conc.), while C. gariepinus oil was 24.50 (conc.). The polyunsaturated fatty acid concentration detected in C. gariepinus oil was 9.06 (conc.) while cod liver oil had 9.20 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentration. Omega 6 fatty acid was detected in C. gariepinus oil (0.6116 conc.) whereas none was present in the cod liver oil. The omega 3 fatty acid made up 88.26% of the total unsaturated fatty acid in cod liver oil, and 69% in C. gariepinus oil. This study showed that though Cod liver oil has a high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acid, C. gariepinus is also a good a source of polyunsaturated fatty acid.