What are Mollusks
The term molluscs identifies a group of marine, terrestrial or aquatic beings, characterized by a soft body; they have neither a skeleton nor a carapace, they breathe through gills and their bloodstream has a heart. Regarding reproduction, some molluscs are hermaphrodites and others are distinguished by separate sexes.
Classification
Molluscs are usually divided into:
- Cephalopods: equipped with internal shell or devoid of shell, which are further distinguished in:
- Dibranchiati:
- Decapods: or with ten tentacles, such as cuttlefish, squid, squid, etc.
- Octopods: that is, with eight tentacles, like the octopus, the baby octopus
- Tetrabranchiati:
- Nautilus
- Dibranchiati:
- Gastropods: univalvi and with an external shell, such as snails, snails (sea, river and land snails), limpets, sea ears, etc.
- Lamellibranchi: bivalves and with external shell, such as mussels (mussels), clams, cockles, cockles, razor clams, scallops, sea truffles, dates of the sea, oysters, pinna nobilis etc.
Nutritional properties of lamellibranchs-bivalves
In principle, it is possible to state that the caloric content of bivalve molluscs is PARTICULARLY low; on average, in fact, it is around 70-85 kcal per 100g of edible portion.
From a micronutritional point of view, bivalve molluscs provide a significant amount of cobalamin (vitamin B12 - particularly lacking in vegan diets) and in varying quantities other vitamins of group B. Furthermore, by examining the mineral profile there is a notable contribution of hemic iron (also lacking in vegetarian and vegan diets), iodine (whose food supplementation seems uniquely useful to achieve the recommended ration), zinc and selenium. On the other hand, the frequent consumption of bivalve molluscs presents a disadvantage that is by no means negligible; they, which filter the water for food, if caught in the sea contain very high quantities of sodium, an aspect that makes them absolutely not recommended in the diet against hypertension.
From the point of view of digestibility, bivalve molluscs are characterized by the reduced content of connective tissue, which reduces the gastric residence time making them suitable for the dietary treatment of digestive difficulties, as long as they are consumed in the APPROPRIATE PORTIONS.
Homemade Strozzapreti with Clam Sauce
Problems with playing the video? Reload the video from youtube.
- Go to the Video Page
- Go to the Video Recipes Section
- Watch the video on youtube
Nutritional properties of cephalopods
Cephalopod molluscs have a chemical and nutritional composition similar to that of bivalves and lean fish; the energy intake is equally low, about 60-75 kcal per 100g of edible portion;
Analyzing the micronutritional picture of cephalopod molluscs, there are no significant discrepancies with respect to the values cited for bivalve molluscs, except for the diversity in the dietary sodium intake. While bivalves are characterized by the "high quantity of sea water they pour into" cooking water during the preparation of dishes, cephalopod molluscs do not, therefore the final sodium content makes them more suitable for diet therapy for hypertension.
Nutritional properties of gastropods
Regarding gastropod molluscs, nutritional information is rather limited due to the scarcity of consumption on a national scale.
Also in this case no significant differences are observed with respect to what reported on bivalve molluscs and cephalopods, although it should be remembered that there is a greater heterogeneity on the composition of marine and terrestrial gastropods.The energy intake is once again moderate, even if slightly higher, around 100kcal. The portion of carbohydrates seems more significant and reaches 6g per 100g of edible portion, as well as protein: 17.5g. The lipids are again scarce, around 1-2g, but it is not possible to trace more detailed information on the nature of fatty acids and the amount of cholesterol.
From the micronutritional point of view, there is an EXCELLENT intake of iron (which exceeds 3%), phosphorus, potassium and once again sodium (> 300mg / 100 grams of shellfish).
From the point of view of conservation, the alteration phenomena in molluscs are similar to those observed in fish and crustaceans.
Bibliography:
- The edible animals of the seas of Italy - A. Palombi, M. Santarelli - pag
- Food composition tables - INRAN (National Research Institute of Food and Nutrition)
