Author(s):
Barbosa, Vera ; Martins, Marta ; Marques, António ; Carvalho, Maria Luisa ; Pessanha, Sofia
Date: 2025
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/187204
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Project/scholarship:
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/773400/EU;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/Concurso de avaliação no âmbito do Programa Plurianual de Financiamento de Unidades de I&D (2017%2F2018) - Financiamento Base/UIDB%2F04292%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/Concurso para Atribuição do Estatuto e Financiamento de Laboratórios Associados (LA)/LA%2FP%2F0069%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/LA%2FP%2F0117%2F2020/PT;
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/CEEC IND 2018/CEECIND%2F00278%2F2018%2FCP1564%2FCT0007/PT;
Subject(s): Biofortification; Cyprinus carpio; Elements imaging; Sparus aurata; μ-XRF; Spectroscopy; SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
Description
Funding Information: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 773400 (SEAFOODTOMORROW). This output reflects the views only of the author(s) and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The authors also thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE) through the strategic project UIDB/04292/2020 granted to MARE, and under the project LA/P/0069/2020 granted to the Associate Laboratory ARNET, as well as the Laboratory for Instrumentation, Biomedical Engineering and Radiation Physics strategic project UID/FIS/04559/2020 and under the project LA/P/0117/2020 granted to REAL Associated Laboratory. S. Pessanha acknowledges FCT for the contract CEECIND/00278/2018/CP1564/CT0007, https://doi.org/10.54499/CEECIND/00278/2018/CP1564/CT0007. Publisher Copyright: © 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Globally, there is a growing demand for healthy and sustainable food products, where seafood can play a relevant role, because it is widely recognized as a healthy food item and is an important source of essential nutrients. Still, one third of the world population suffers from food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition. Hence, developing tailor-made fortified farmed fish is a promising solution to overcome nutritional deficiencies and increase consumer confidence in these products. The aim of this study is to evaluate differences in nutritional elements distribution in biofortified and non-biofortified fillets from gilthead seabream and common carp, using micro-X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF). This technique is a fast and nondestructive multielement mapping method with simple operation and sample preparation procedures. Results showed that calcium was mainly accumulated in the skin layer, which includes the scales and spines (skeleton), whereas iron, potassium, and zinc were uniformly distributed in the fish muscle. Compared with the control, biofortified gilthead seabream fillets showed a higher concentration of iron in the inner area of the skin layer (dermis) and muscle tissue, whereas biofortified common carp fillets showed a higher concentration of iron in muscle tissue and zinc in the abdominal cavity tissue of the sample. This study demonstrates that micro-X-ray is a suitable technique to assess the elemental distribution with micrometer resolution in fish fillets.
