Role of the rabbit meat as functional food.

Increasing consumer knowledge of the link between diet and health has raised the awareness and demand for functional food ingredients. Meat and its derivatives may be considered functional foods to the extent that they contain numerous compounds thought to be functional. This review will attempt to outline the excellent nutritional and dietetic properties of the rabbit meat and to offer an overview of the studies until now performed on the several strategies to improve the functional value of the rabbit meat. Dietary manipulation has been seen very effective in increasing the levels of essential FA, EPA, DHA, CLA, branched chain FA, vitamin E, selenium in the rabbit meat. Dietary fortification with vitamin E or natural products such as oregano essential oil, chia seed oil, Spirulina platensis microalga, seem to be promising to improve the oxidative stability of rabbit meat, other than carrying functional ingredients.