Bioactive Proteins from Freshwater Fish in Riverine and Mining

Pools of Malaysia
Abdul Salam Babji , Nur Aliah Daud, Nurul Nadia Muhammad,
Mohamad Aizuddin Abdul Hanan*
School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of
Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600,
Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
*Maktab Rendah Sains MARA, Jalan Tanjung Batu, Bandar Tawau,
91000 Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia

Freshwater Fish in Malaysia and its Characteristics

Fish may differ in appearance, size, and eating quality. However,
fish have one common characteristic which rely on habitat and it
may change at different times in their life cycle. Many native fish
respond to environmental cues that trigger spawning events such as
rises in water level and flow velocity, changes in water temperature
and salinity, day and night length. These adaptations have evolved
over thousand of years with naturally changing river conditions and
climate. Some fish migrate locally while others will travel a great
distance between where they live and where they reproduce.
Freshwater fish are plentiful in Asia region and contain a major
source of protein for its population. Malaysia is essentially a fishconsuming country. Fish plays a major role in the average diet of
Malaysia, accounting for 60% of

total animal protein intake.

Malaysia has considerable growth potential for aquaculture. Many

activities on freshwater fish culture has been encouraged by the
appropriate

authorities

to

increase

the

supply

of

fish

for

consumption. The government, in fact, has identified aquaculture as

a priority industry and efforts are being made to actively promote
investment. Ponds and old mining pools were used for aquaculture
and breeding of freshwater fish. The limited marine resources and
the huge increase in price of most seafood based resources have

made it more justifiable to look at our backyards of rivers, mining

pools and lake water sources for fresh water fish and aquatic
animals.
The major freshwater food fish species being produced in
Malaysia are tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), Javanese carp (Puntius

gonionotus),

common

(Ctenopharyngodon

carp

idella)

(Cyprinus
and

carpio),

marble

big

goby

head

carp

(Oxyleotrix

marmoratus). Aquaculture production amounted to 526, 507 tonnes,

with major species being catfish, 38.3%, Tilapia, 35%, Patin, 8.9%
and Big Head Carp, 3.21%. The desired production of fish breed is
achieved by using formulated pellet feed with a protein content of
32-40% containing mainly fish meal, rice bran, and maize, fed at 3 to
5% of body weight.
Depending on the species of fish breed, both monoculture and
polyculture are practised. In most establishments of aquaculture,
static water conditions with regular water exchange of 5-10% a day
is a common management practice. To ensure optimal conditions,
water quality is monitored regularly. Mining pools are irregularly
shaped bodies of water, a consequence of Malaysia's huge tinmining industry. Serving as water resource ponds to active mines,
they are, however, left abandoned after the mine is exhausted.
These pools have been, for decades, used for fish culture (Liong et
al. 1988).
Freshwater Fish Nutritional Content and Protein Quality.

As for nutrient composition, the freshwater fish have a high protein

content (15-20%) which a level comparable to that found in meat.
Most of the fish have a low fat content ranging from 1-5%; lower
than fat content in meat and marine fish. The fish are also good
sources of calcium, phosphorus and iron, and fairly high level of
vitamin B, particularly riboflavin and niacin (Tee et al. 1989;
Pomponi 1999). Table 1 showed an example of nutritional content in
details from freshwater fish.
Table 1 Nutritional content in freshwater fishes
Fat
Common

Protei

Tot

Total

Total

EPA

DH

Ca

Fe

Zn

Vitam

name

n (g)

al

Saturat

PUF

(g)

(mg

(mg

(mg

in A

and

Lipi

ed Fat

A (g)

(g)

(RAE)

species

(g)

Common

(g)
5.6

1.08

17.83

carp

*
1.43

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.1

41

1.2

1.4

0.5

0.3

Cyprinus
carpio
Tilapia
Oreochr

20.80

1.7
0

0.77

0.48

10

omis
spp .
PUFA, polyunsaturated fatty acid; EPA, eicosapentaenoic;DHA, docosahexaenoic
acid.
*Retinol activity equivalent

Freshwater fish contains a high level of the essential amino

acid, lysine, exceeding that found in other animal proteins such as
hens egg and is also higher than that found in milk. Animal protein,
including those from fish are better in quality than protein from
cereals or vegetables such as rice (low in lysine), maize (low in
tryptophan) and legume (low in methionine).
The amino acid composition of fish protein was comparable to
other animal protein. Fish flesh, however, almost completely lacked
the carbohydrate constituents characteristics of foods of plant

origin. Foods from plant origin such as cereals, often have lysine as
the limiting factor. Thus, fish, rich in lysine is well complement with
rice and other foods in the Malaysian diet (Zanariah and Noor Rehan
1988).

Bioactive Peptides from Fish Protein

Nutritional properties of proteins are associated with their amino
acid content in conjunction with the physiological utilization of
specific amino acids in digestion and absorption. On the other hand,
the functional properties of proteins relate to their contribution to
the physicochemical and sensory properties of foods.
Bioactive peptides, also known as active protein fragments,
have

been

defined

as

food

derived

components

(genuine

or

generated) that, in addition to their nutritional value, exert a

physiological effect in the body. Bioactive peptides have been
identified in a range of foods, including plant, milk and muscle (e.g.,
beef, chicken, and fish muscle proteins). Bioactive peptides from
food proteins can be used as functional food ingredients, or
nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals to improve consumers health
and prevent diseases (Joseph et al. 2011).

The

peptides

absorbed

through

intestine

where

subsequently
intact

may

be

the
they

enter

the

to

exert

physiological

effects,

circulatory

system

various
or

they

may produce local effects

in

the

Food

digestive

derived

tract.

bioactive

Bioactive peptides powder

peptides have been shown to display a wide range of physiological

functions including antihypertensive, antioxidative, opioid agonistic,
immunomodulatory,

antimicrobial,

prebiotic,

mineral

binding,

antithrombotic and hypocholesterolemic effects.

The peptides generally contain 220 amino acid units of chain.
The amino acid composition and unique sequences can affect the
activity of bioactive peptides. With the increasing knowledge on
functional properties of fish protein hydrolysates, there are many
researchers carry out studies on the developments and applications
of fish-derived functional foods, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals
(Barrow and Shahidi 2008; Toldra et al. 2012).
Functional Properties Derived from Fish Proteins
Fish-derived bioactive peptides play a vital
role

in

consumers

Antihypertensive

health

peptides

and

nutrition.

have

attracted

much attention due to the ability to prevent

hypertension. It is capable of suppressing the elevation
of blood pressure by inhibiting the catalytic action of a regulatory
enzyme involved in the hypertension reaction (Li et al. 2004).
As for prevention or reduction of oxidation process, natural
antioxidants, especially from food proteins, may have potential
health benefits with little or no side effects, providing an alternative
to the synthetic antioxidants (Bernardini et al., 2011). The bioactive

peptides with antioxidative properties may have great potential for

use as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.
The peptides also have useful antimicrobial properties that can
be used in the food industry as well as in the pharmaceutical.
Antimicrobial peptides from fish will provide a new source for
development of measurement novel antimicrobial drugs in the
future. These antimicrobial peptides can serve as vaccines in the
future to inactive specific pathogens, and they can also be used in
food preservatives, and supplements. It is important to discover new
antimicrobial substances because of the rise of pathogenic bacteria
that are resistant to conventional antibiotics (Najafian and Babji
2014).
Commercialization of Fish Peptides
Protein

6.04%

Fat

0.80%

Carbohydrate

12.12%

Moisture

79.45%

Ash

1.59%

Water activity

0.981

Calories

40kcal

content

Nutritional content of Roselle hydrolyzed collagen drink

The above product is one of the outcome that have been made on
utilization of bioactive peptides incorporated in drink product to
improve functional food. Since production of bioactive peptides from

freshwater fish carried a potential bioacitivities in quality and health

improvement, freshwater fish protein could be used as health
enhancing ingredient in the formulation of functional foods in order
to replace synthetic chemicals that generally used in food industry,
nutraceutical and pharmaseutical need.

References
Liong,

P.C.,

Hanafi,

H.B.,

Merican,

Z.O.,

Nagaraj,

G.

(1988).

Aquaculture development in Malaysia. In: J.V. Juario & L.V. Benitez

(Eds.) Perspectives in Aquaculture Development in Southeast Asia
and Japan: Contributions of the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department.
Proceedings

of

the

Seminar

on

Aquaculture

Development

in

Southeast Asia, 8-12 September 1987, Iloilo City, Philippines. (pp. 7390).

Tigbauan,

Iloilo,

Philippines:

SEAFDEC,

Aquaculture

Department.
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