STUDIES ON CHEMICAL FORM AND NUTRITIONAL ROLE OF MINERALS IN SEVERAL SEA FOODS

1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 06660259
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Fisheries chemistry
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Fisheries
• Principal Investigator: SUZUKI Takeshi Tokyo University of Fisheries, Faculty of Fisheries, Associate Professor, 水産学部, 助教授 (90100966)
• Project Period (FY): 1994 – 1995
• Keywords: Minerals / pH / Enzyme / Shellfish / Seaweed / Solubility

Research Abstract

Seafoods (crustaceans, mollusks, and seaweeds) have a wide variety of minerals with unknown bioavailability. Almost all minerals in seafoods exist as complexes with other minerals or organic molecules. Therefore, it is important to determine the form in which the mineral exists, as well as its solubility. In this study, physicochemical parameters were evaluated to determine the potential bioavailability of calcium, iron, zinc, potassium and sodium, in scallop, clam, oyster, prawn and crab, and also red (nori), brown (hijiki) and green (aonori) algae. All samples underwent various in vitro simulations of gastrointestinal conditions, and the molecular weight of the mineral complex was estimated along with the ionic form of minerals. Percent of soluble minerals were found to be dependent on the type of mineral, but not the type of seafood. There was no enzymatic effect on molecular weight or ionic form of calcium complexes, mainly there were affected by pH.The solubility of iron was lower then the other minerals, however, pepsin treatment increased iron solubility. A large percentage of all soluble minerals existed in low molecular weight segment or in the ironic form. These results are helpful to elucidate their chemical forms for assessing the true nutritive value.