Revelation of Penang Prawn Mee

Selamat Datang, Welcome~ Hope you enjoy your visit ^^

Here, we are going to find out more about Penang Prawn Mee.
So, let’s start the journey,
First, from the name of this local dish, we can know that it is popular in Penang. It is named Hokkien Mee in the Penang, but outside Penang, it is called Prawn Mee, or Hae mee.
It is basically a spicy prawn-based soup of egg noodles and rice noodles, garnished with sliced prawn, sliced boiled eggs, water spinach (Kangkung), bean sprouts (taugeh), fried shallot, and serve with chili paste.

To taste this delicious local dish, me and my partner had visit a food stall that sell Penang Prawn Mee in our area. This food stall is located at 33 KOPITIAM, the address is:

No 33 Jln Waras 1, tmn Cannought, Cheras 56000, Kuala Lumpur

Penang Prawn Mee

If you are familiar that how prawn mee being served in Penang, you will find that this stall did everything correctly. Noodle or mee hun, sliced pork, small sliced prawn, kangkung and bean sprout in a soup based that’s boiled with prawn and pork bones. All this is topped with some fried shallots, and of course, chili paste is given as well for the spicy touch. These are all prepared by the food stall owner who has 12 years experience in cooking Penang Prawn Mee. According to him, it is important that for the soup base the prawn shell (kg) to water is prepare by the ratio 1:1 and the soup must be cooked for 2-3 hours.

Nutrition Value of Penang Prawn Mee

(Source: Nutriweb Food Database)

Below is an interview we did with a nutritionist, Siau Fun, from

Vitalife Sdn Bhd. regarding Penang Prawn Mee

1. What are the nutritional values of the ingredients of prawn mee?
Siau Fun: Shrimp and prawn are good source of protein, yet are very low in fat and calories. They also contain high levels of vitamin B12, zinc, iodine, phosphorous, potassium, selenium and iron.
Pork is important source of iron, zinc and protein. It is also rich in B vitamins, such as B1, B6 and B12.
Egg is rich in protein and it also provides significant amounts of vitamin A, B, D and E. It also contains iron, selenium, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, riboflavin, sodium and magnesium.
Kangkung is rich in Iron, fiber, Vitamin A and C.
Bean sprout contains high fiber, Vitamin A, B, C, and E and calcium, iron and potassium.
Yellow noodle is rich in carbohydrates.

2. The soup base of prawn mee is prepared from shrimp shells and shrimp head. Do you think it contains high cholesterol?
Siau Fun: Yes. Shrimps heads and prawns itself do have high cholesterol content; however, they are low in saturated fat, which is the fat that raises cholesterol levels in the body. Recent research also has discovered that the level of cholesterol contained in food has little significance to the amount of cholesterol in one’s blood. Thus, the soup which prepare from shrimp shells and shrimp head will not contribute to high cholesterol level in one person.

3. What is the possible metabolism involved in our body after we consumed the prawn mee?
Siau Fun: After food is eaten, digestive enzymes will break proteins down into amino acids, fats into fatty acids, and carbohydrates into simple sugars (e.g., glucose). In addition to sugar, both amino acids and fatty acids can be used as energy sources by the body when needed. These compounds are absorbed into the blood, which transports them to the cells.
After they enter the cells, other enzymes act to speed up or regulate the chemical reactions involved with "metabolizing" these compounds. During these processes, the energy will be released for use by the body or stored in body tissues, especially the liver, muscles, and body fat.

4. The metabolism involved can bring what physiological benefits in our body?
Siau Fun: The two metabolism processes involved are anabolism and catabolism.
Anabolism supports the growth of new cells, the maintenance of body tissues, and the storage of energy for use in the future. During anabolism, small molecules are converted into larger, more complex molecules of carbohydrate, protein, and fat.
Catabolism is the process that produces the energy required for all activity in the cells. In this process, cells break down large molecules (mostly carbohydrates and fats) to release energy. This energy release provides fuel for anabolism, heats the body, and enables the muscles to contract and the body to move.

5. Do u think there is any adverse effect from this food if we consume regularly?
Siau Fun: Yes. We might develop nutrient deficiency if we consume certain food regularly, because no single food can provide all the nutrients that needed by our body. Besides that, certain foods e.g fatty food will contribute to adverse effects (e.g. cardiovascular disease) if we consume it regularly. Thus, we should consume variety food in moderation in order to meet our body nutrient requirement.

Metabolism Pathway Involved

Carbohydrate Metabolism

Pathways of Glucose Metabolism

(Source: http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/biochem/15/)

The yellow noodles in Penang prawn Mee are the main source of carbohydrate. Digestion of carbohydrate occurs in the gut. All carbohydrates are converted to monosaccharides and absorbed into blood stream. In the body, glucose is catabolised to produce energy by a process called glycolysis. The final products of glycolysis are pyruvic acid and ATP. This process occurs in all peripheral tissues, mainly in brain, muscle and kidney. The reactions continue to convert pyruvic acid to acetyl CoA and then citric acid in the citric acid cycle. The majority of the ATP is produced from oxidations in the citric acid cycle in connection with the electron transport chain (Ophardt C. E., 2003). When there is excess glucose in blood stream, it is anabolised to glycogen by the process of glycogenesis and stored in the liver and muscles.

Fat Metabolism
Fat obtained from the consumption of Penang prawn mee undergoes lipolysis, betaoxidation, ketosis, and lipogenesis. Lipolysis and beta-oxidation occurs in the mitochondria, two carbons are removed from the fatty acid per cycle in the form of acetyl CoA, which proceeds through the Krebs cycle to produce ATP, CO2, and water. Ketosis occurs when the rate of formation of ketones is high. It happens during prolonged starvation and when large amounts of fat are eaten in the absence of carbohydrate. Furthermore, lipogenesis occurs in the cytosol. The fatty acids are derived from the hydrolysis of fats, as well as from the synthesis of acetyl CoA through the oxidation of fats, glucose, and some amino acids (Patel G., 2008).

Protein Metabolism
Protein from prawn and pork is digested to amino acids. Excess amino acids are converted to glycogen or fat and later used for energy metabolism. During energy metabolism, the carbon skeletons of amino acids are converted to acetyl CoA, which enters the Krebs cycle to produce ATP. Vitamin B6 acts as a cofactor in transamination reactions which transfer the nitrogen from one keto acid to another. This is the final step in the synthesis of non-essential amino acids and the first step in amino acid catabolism. Transamination converts amino acids to L-glutamate, and then undergoes oxidative deamination to form ammonia, used for the synthesis of urea (Patel G., 2008).


How to Boost the Nutritional Values in Penang Prawn Mee?

1. Change the egg to Omega 3 eggs. Omega-3 enriched eggs are produced by changing the diet of the hens so that it contains 10-20% ground flax seed. Flax seed contains higher amounts of the Omega-3 fatty acid Alpha-Linolenic Acid or ALA. ALA improves cardiovascular health by raising HDL-cholesterol (the good cholesterol) among many other benefits. This small about of omega-3 might not seem like much but every little change you can make to your diet will certainly add up.

2. Change the fried shallot topping with spring onions due to that spring onions are a good source of vitamin C and provide small amounts of other vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Besides, replace freshly chopped spring onions with fried shallots can as well reduce the calories and fat intake.

3. Change the rice noodle to soba noodles is an good way to increase the nutrition value, soba noodles are noodles made from buckwheat. Soba has high content of protein and complex carbohydrates, besides, they are rich in minerals such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. They also contain vitamin B1 as well as flavonoids, which is known best for benefiting the cardiovascular system. Soba noodle are a slow-releasing carbohydrate because of their buckwheat content which is a gluten-free grain that contains no wheat.

Does Prawns Increase Cholesterol Level In Our Body?


According to nutritionist, Siau Fun, for the interview question 2, prawn will not contribute to high cholesterol level in one person.

In theory, when we eat prawns, our body should reduce the amount of cholesterol it makes. However if our diet is high in saturated fat and have the 'wrong' genes, our cholesterol production mechanism may not work effectively and the cholesterol from prawns add to what your body is making, which may be several grams a day.

However evidence would suggest that a higher proportion of the cholesterol is HDL (good) than LDL (bad) cholesterol. It is much more important to reduce the saturated fat in your diet than to fuss about foods containing ready-made cholesterol. Prawns have virtually no saturated fat, so as long as we have them grilled, barbequed, steamed or cooked with a good unsaturated fat like olive oil they should not cause any problem in our body. Me and my partner both agree that prawn will not increase significantly our body cholesterol level, unless the diet contain saturated fat such as saturated cooking oil.

References

• Australian Prawn Farmer's Association, nd: Healthy Eating. Available from:
  http://www.australianprawns.com.au/healthyeating.php [Accessed on 20 February 2009]
• Hardy J. K., 1998. Energy Metabolism of Glucose [Online]. Available from: http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/biochem/15/ [Accesse 21 February 2009]
• Ophardt C. E., 2003. Overview of Carbohydrate Metabolism [Online]. Available from: http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/600glycolysis.html [Accessed 20 February 2009]
• Patel G., 2008. Metabolism [Online]. Available from:
  http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Met-Obe/Metabolism.html [Accessed 22 February 2009]
• Paul, 2006, Healthy reader: Omega-3 egg. Available from: http://www.healthyreader.com/2006/05/31/omega-3-eggs/
  [Accessed on 20 February 2009]
  

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