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Effect on the Growth-rate of Weanling Rats of supplementing the Protein of White Bread with l-Lysine

Abstract

WE have recently re-investigated the rates of growth of rats, of both sexes and at various ages, on diets in which all the protein was derived from white flour (70 per cent extraction) or from wholemeal. The stimulus for this re-examination was provided by the publication by Widdowson and McCance1 of their results of the growth of both children and animals on diets containing a large proportion of wheaten flour. Our experiments have shown2 that the superior growth-rate of male weanling rats on the protein of wholemeal, compared with that of white flour, is due to the higher lysine content of the wholemeal protein. This work also demonstrated the extreme sensitivity of the weanling rat to small changes in the lysine content of the diet, when wheaten flour is providing the protein. We have accordingly now investigated the growth response of male weanling rats when small increments of l-lysine were added to a diet in which the protein was provided by white bread. Similar experiments have been carried out by Rosenberg and Rohdenburg3, Rosenberg, Rohdenburg and Baldini4 in the United States; but the bread used contained 3 per cent non-fat milk solids.

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References

  1. Widdowson, E. M., and McCance, R. A., Medical Research Council Special Report No. 287 (London, 1954).

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HUTCHINSON, J., MORAN, T. & PACE, J. Effect on the Growth-rate of Weanling Rats of supplementing the Protein of White Bread with l-Lysine. Nature 178, 46–47 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/178046a0

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