Nutritional Components and Quality Evaluation of Coilia nasus Muscle from Offshore of the Yangtze Estuary

Abstract

Background: Coilia nasus was one of the important economic fish in the Yangtze Estuary. The meat of C. nasus is tender and delicious, which is deeply loved by people. With the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River, a large number of “C. nasus from the sea” have appeared in the market. At present, the nutritional status and its true source are not clear. Therefore, the nutritional composition and quality of offshore C. nasus were analyzed to identify its source and evaluate its development and utilization potential according to its nutritional quality in the future. Methods: The muscle nutritional components and quality of offshore C. nasus were analyzed according to the methods of national standards of China. Result: The content of essential amino acids (EAA) in dry sample was 57.06%±7.39%. The first limited amino acid was tryptophan (Trp), the essential amino acids index (EAAI) was 83.05 and the F-value was 2.37. The total content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in fatty acids were 10.67%±0.46%, the ratio of DHA/EPA was 1.74%±0.05%. This investigation indicates that the muscle of C. nasus from offshore of the Yangtze Estuary contained rich amino acid such as glutamate (Glu) and lysine (Lys) and sufficient polyunsaturated fatty acids such as DHA and EPA.