Chemical composition, amino acid and fatty acid contents, and mineral concentrations of European beaver (Castor fiber L.) meat

Abstrakt

The present investigation was designed to determine the meat nutritional profile of European beaver (Castor fiber L.). The proximate composition, energy value, amino acids composition, chemical scores for indispensable amino acids, fatty acids composition and mineral concentrations were determined. In 100 g of meat the content for moisture ranged from 75.42 to 77.32 g, for protein from 20.21 to 22.33 g, for fat from 0.66 to 2.44 and for ash from 1.12 to 1.24 g. The Nutritional Quality Index for muscle protein was 9. The indispensable amino acids (IAA) at the highest content were lysine and leucine (1.85 and 1.65 g 100 g−1). The average percentage of IAA was 45% and their chemical scores amounted to more than 100. The total percentages of trans-, saturated (SFA), mono, and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids were 2.25, 32.25, 18.83 and 49.08%. The ratio of PUFA/SFA and n-6/n-3 PUFA were 1.56 and 5.58. The cholesterol content averaged 55.10 mg 100 g−1. The muscle tissue of beavers contained favourable amount of minerals, particularly Fe and heme Fe (64.49 and 45.60 mg kg−1), Zn and Cu (45.07 and 0.98 mg kg−1), as well a low level of Na (461.9 mg kg−1). Summing up, beavers are a valuable nutritional meat source with a desirable chemical composition and a low calorific value and can constitute a healthy alternative food as advantageous for human health and coherent with diet recommendations.

Autorzy

artykuł
Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization
Angielski
2017
11
3
1035-1044
otwarte czasopismo
CC BY 4.0 Uznanie autorstwa 4.0
ostateczna wersja opublikowana
w momencie opublikowania
2017-02-22
15
1,181
2
6