ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Food Chemistry
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1684958
Proximate composition, fatty acid characteristics, and amino acid profile of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus L. 1758): Monthly and Seasonal Influences
Provisionally accepted
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Türkiye
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This study investigated the proximate composition, amino acid, and fatty acid profiles of anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) collected from the Southeastern Black Sea on both monthly and seasonal bases. Crude protein (17.65–20.24%), crude fat (5.29–14.51%), moisture (64.61–73.12%), and crude ash (1.30–1.82%) contents showed significant fluctuations. Palmitic acid was the dominant saturated fatty acid (16.97–20.89%). Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) reached their highest values in summer (33.50%) and June (35.30%), while the lowest levels were detected in autumn (28.76%) and November (27.14%). Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) peaked in spring and May (up to 8.95%) and was lowest in autumn and September (6.47%). Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was highest in summer and September (19.86%) and lowest in autumn and November (13.78%). The atherogenicity and thrombogenicity indices varied between 0.77–0.73 and 0.81–0.69 seasonally, and 0.35–0.90 and 0.36–0.27 monthly, respectively. Total essential amino acids ranged from 8727 to 10039 mg/100 g, while total non-essential amino acids ranged from 7961 to 8894 mg/100 g. Lysine was the most abundant essential amino acid, whereas glutamic acid was the predominant non-essential amino acid.
Keywords: Anchovy, Nutritional value, proximate composition, Amino Acids, Fatty Acids
Received: 22 Aug 2025; Accepted: 24 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Karsli, ÖĞRETMEN and Emanet. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Özen Yusuf ÖĞRETMEN, ozenyusuf.ogretmen@erdogan.edu.tr
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