Nutritional Metabolism of Antarctic Krill Product Protein in Rats

This work conducted a four-week metabolism test on rats to study the digestion and absorption characteristics of five protein-based krill products prepared from Antarctic krill as raw material. It aimed to provide theoretical support for the effective use of Antarctic krill protein and the development of novel protein resources. The results showed that the weight gain and true digestibi- lity of the rats fed with krill meat, surimi and ordinary krill powder were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of the rats fed with traditional casein. Compared to casein, proteins from the five Antarctic krill products were found to significantly improve the net protein utilization (P < 0.05), and reduce the total cholesterol and triglycerides in the serum of rats (P < 0.05). In summary, the Antarc- tic krill protein-based products with high nutritional values can be used as a potential novel protein resource in the food industry.