The aim of present research was to contribute to G. barbata chemodiversity and to the knowledge of specially protected Cystoseria areas. The fatty acid content was analyzed by gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID). The major saturated fatty acid (SFA) in G. barbata was palmitic acid (33.16 ± 0.41%) followed by stearic (8.22 ± 0.61%) and myristic acids (4.90 ± 0.07%). Besides oleic acid isomers (17.72 ± 0.18%), a significant amounts of arachidonic acid (ARA) were found (11.96 ± 0.19%) among polyunsaturated FAs. ARA is an important biomembranes constituent, a precursor of prostlandins and other eicosanoids.
From nutritional aspect, FAs are very important components that provide normal functioning of the human metabolism, health and prevention of diseases. The composition and content of fatty acids in macroalgae samples was determined using gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection after total lipid extraction was obtained by Folch method. Nutritional value of FAs is evaluated and expressed as nutritional indices and most widely used indices are: PUFA/SFA ratio, index of atherogenicity (IA), index of thrombogenicity(IT), unsaturated index (UI), hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic ratio (HH). IA and IT are indices correlated with potential effect of FA on cardiovascular health (CHV). IA and IT values for G. barbata obtained in this study were 1.11 and 1.32. When comparing IA and IT values of brown macroalgae to other foods, the values are higher than in crops, fish and meat but lower than in dairy products. UI indicated the degree of unsaturation in lipids and is commonly used for evaluation of PUFAs content and quality in macroalgae. UI for G. barbata calculated in this study was 101.49.