The consumption of seafood in Japan has continued to decline, and consumption of meat is increasing. One reason for this is that it takes time to cook fish. Therefore, we focused on fish roe that require little cooking time, and examined whether they can be used as a food source of n-3 fatty acids. We selected salmon (sujiko and ikura), herring, cod, flounder, flying fish, and smelt roe, and measured their eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) content, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content and n-6/n-3 ratio by fatty acid analysis. In addition, cooked cod, flounder, and smelt roe were analyzed. The amounts of EPA and DHA in each fish roe were in the order salmon roe 1 (sujiko)> smelt roe ≒ salmon roe 2 (ikura)> cod roe ≒ flounder roe > herring roe > flying fish roe. There was no difference in the amount of EPA, DHA, and fatty acid composition between raw and cooked roe. All fish roe contained only traces of n-6 fatty acid, and the n-6/n-3 ratio was as low as 1 or less. Our results showed that EPA and DHA can be easily acquired from fish roe, particularly salmon roe. Moreover, the EPA and DHA content of fish roe was not decreased by cooking, so they are suitable as a food source of n-3 fatty acids.
