Nutritional quality in terms of amino acid and fatty acid of five coldwater fish species: implications to human health

Abstract

Muscle samples of Tor putitora, Neolissochilus hexagonolepis, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Schizothorax richardsonii and Cyprinus carpio were analyzed for fatty acid and amino acid composition with a view to generate nutritional information of the five important coldwater fish species of Indian upland Himalayan region. In the present study, all the fish species recorded good amounts of n-3 fatty acids (8.69–21.48 %) and the n-3/n-6 ratio ranged from 0.7 to 4.98. The amino acid score calculated based on the World Health Organization (WHO) protein standard indicated good quality proteins in the species but with mostly marginally lower values for C. carpio. However, when the amino acid levels of the fish species were compared with the recommended amino acid levels, all the fish species were found to constitute a good source of essential amino acids. Limiting amino acids such as lysine, methionine and cysteine occurred at levels higher than or marginally lower than the recommended amino acid profile. It could be concluded that the five coldwater fish species from upland Himalayan region contained high quality lipids and proteins constituting a healthy addition to the human diet.