Fatty acid profile and healthy lipid indices of bulgarian goat milk from breeds, pasture-raised in a mountain region

• Main Authors: D. Pamukova, N. Naydenova, G. Mihaylova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Trakia University 2018-12-01
• Series: Trakia Journal of Sciences
• Subjects: goat milk; healthy indexes; bulgarian white dairy goat; toggenburg; local goats
• Online Access: http://tru.uni-sz.bg/tsj/Volume%2016,%202018,%20Number%204,%20Series%20Biomedical%20Sciences/8.pdf

The aim of the present study was to characterize the fatty acids profile and the related health lipid indices of goat`s milk from different Bulgarian breeds in order to add information on its nutritional quality. The study was performed with goat milk from a private farm in the Stara Planina Mountain. Milk samples were collected from three breeds – Bulgarian White Dairy Goat, Toggenburg and local goats. The content of saturated fatty acids was the highest in the milk of the local breed – 83.6% compared to for Bulgarian White Dairy Goat - 75.4% and Toggenburg - 75.2%. The atherogenic index was calculated on the obtained values for lauric (C12:0), myristic (C14:0) and palmitic (C16:0) acids and the unsaturated fatty acids. The data for the Bulgarian White Dairy Goat was – 3.12; Toggenburg – 3.14 and for local breed – 5.54. The values of the atherogenic index showed that it is the lowest for the Toggenburg, following Bulgarian White Dairy Goat and local breed. Omega 6/Omega 3 ratio varies from 1.58 for local breed to 2.44 for Toggenburg which is within the range of the optimal values for healthy nutrition.