Oyster gonads are rich in fatty acids, making them the healthiest part of the oyster, say Australian scientists.
Dr Xiao Su and honours student Hintsa Mateos of Victoria University's school of biomedical sciences will present their findings this week at the International Congress of Clinical Nutrition conference in Brisbane.
The researchers looked at the concentration of omega-3 fatty acids in the gills, muscles and gonads of eight Sydney rock oysters.
"The gonads of oysters is the large creamy part which is eaten together with the muscles and gills," Su told ABC Science Online.
"We found the gonads have a very high concentration of omega-3 fatty acids."
These included EPA, or eicosapentaenoic acid, and DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, which other scientists had shown have health benefits.
Su said eating omega-3 fatty acids in the diet seemed to reduce the risk of conditions such as heart disease and cancer.
While there had been much research on the omega-3 content of fish oils, she said there had been little research on shellfish such as oysters. And previous studies on oysters had only looked at the oyster as a whole.
Oyster gonads were also the most tasty part of the shellfish, Su said.
The scientists' findings may also have implications for harvesting oysters.
Su said the findings that gonads had "significantly higher" levels of fatty acids than the muscles and gills would help advise industry on the best time to harvest oysters.
"It also tells the general public that if we buy oysters at the right season, when they have large gonads, they will give us a lot of omega-3."
She said the gonads of Sydney rock oysters matured in the early part of the Southern Hemisphere summer while those of the Pacific oysters matured later, in February.
The project received no industry funding.
This is just getting disgusting. . . . .
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