Nutritional value of several commercially important river fish species from the Czech Republic

• Published in: PeerJ
• Main Authors: Sarvenaz Khalili Tilami, Sabine Sampels, Tomáš Zajíc, Jakub Krejsa, Jan Másílko, Jan Mráz
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PeerJ Inc. 2018
• Subjects: Eicosapentenoic acid; Docosahexaenoic acid; Nutritional value; Index of atherogenicity; Index of thrombogenicity; Medicine; R; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; eskimo*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5729; https://doaj.org/article/9087aa34cd8d4d03a386425f1c322075

Proximate and fatty acid (FA) composition of seven freshwater fish species from the Czech Republic were examined. Moreover, the index of atherogenicity (IA) and the index of thrombogenicity (IT) were calculated from the obtained data. These two indices along with the total content of the essential n-3 FAs, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as well as the ratio of n-6/n3 FAs, provide good indicators for the nutritional value of the fish. The species had been selected owing to the limited amount of information about their nutritional composition available. Furthermore, they are not typically subject to aquaculture, being almost exclusively obtained by angling. The protein content was relatively stable in all species (17.1 ± 1.55 to 19.2 ± 2.20 g/100 g). The content of carbohydrates ranged from 0.02 ± 0.1 to 0.99 ± 0.0 g/100 g and ash from 1.08 ± 0.20 to 2.54 ± 1.57 g/100 g. As expected, a high variability was observed in the fat content (0.74 ± 0.04 to 4.04 ± 0.81 g/100 g) and the FA composition, as well as the contents of EPA and DHA. IA and IT were close to the values stated for the Eskimo diet, indicating a high nutritional value with a positive effect for human health.