LAINE WELCH
FISHERIES
Published: April 10th, 2010 05:52 PM
Last Modified: April 10th, 2010 05:53 PM
KODIAK — Alaska fish can now claim another “best” on the health front — it is the easiest protein on your tummy.
That is the conclusion of the first comparative study ever on digestibility of America’s most popular proteins.
“Most people have assumed that fish is a superior source of protein, but no studies have been done to prove it. We wanted to fill that gap by studying the compositional and digestibility differences between the big protein sources — beef, pork, chicken and fish,” said Scott Smiley at the University of Alaska’s Fishery Industrial Technology Center in Kodiak.
Alaska pollock was by far the most digestible protein, followed by Alaska salmon.
“The fish came way out on top. Interestingly, chicken was the least digestible,” Smiley said.
They all are high-quality proteins, Smiley added, but the main distinction of Alaska’s cold-water fish is that they provide omega-3 fatty acids.
“Those are incredibly healthful for humans,” Smiley said. “And omegas are tremendously potent in terms of undoing the damage that saturated fatty acids associated with red meats have done over the years because of our diet.”
Smiley said the Alaska scientists were “thrilled” at the study results.
“We suspected this would be the case, but it is always good to see it validated through testing. And we tested it ‘seven ways through Sunday’ here in both laboratory and field tests.”
FITC scientists collaborated on the study with researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana. Results are published in the Journal of Animal Science.
[Source: http://www.adn.com/2010/04/10/1220608/alaska-fish-boast-best-protein.html]
Wed, Apr 28, 2010