Abstract
The present study was carried out as part of a series of nutritional investigations on the utilization of krill, with special reference to the effects of cambining krill with soy protein isolate (SPI). Wistarstrain weanling male rats were fed on five experimental diets: 1) casein (control), 2) krill, 3) SPI, 4) SPI+krill and 5) SPI+krill+methionine. The animals were then examined for growth, changes in organ weight and serum lipid contents. The results obtained were as follow: 1) Increase in body weight was significantly reduced only in the SPI-fed group, whereas in the group fed krill combined with SPI, growth recovered to the level observed in the casein-fed group. 2) The total lipid content in the serum of the SPI-fed group was significantly higher than that of the casein-fed group. However, the combined group maintained the same lipid level as that in the casein-fed group. 3) The total cholesterol content in serum was significantly lowered in the combined (SPI+krill-fed) group in comparison with the other groups. However, addition of methionine to this group did not result in any additional lowering effect on the total cholesterol content. These results suggest that the addition of SPI is useful for the utilization of krill as a foodstuff.
