Recently,the utilization of silk protein(sericin and fibroin)is the food field is becoming practicable.As a food material,approximately 6-7t(the 2000 year)1)of fibroin was used and the market is expanding in Japan.However,the function of silk protein as a food material is poorly understood except for the investigation of its anti-oxidative activity. Therefore,we examined the nutritional function of water-soluble sericin such as its extensive purification conditions,proximate composition,and

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... stibility.The amino acid composition of purified water-soluble sericin was the same as the yarn silk protein. Moreover,the digestibility of water-soluble sericin was 38% when treated with pepsintrypsin-chymotrypsin in vitro.On the other hand,its in vivo digestibility was approximately 45%.From the result that sericin can be digested and absorbed,we speculated that when sericin is used as a food material,it may contain a nutritional function which may contribute to human health.