Beneficial Effects of Fish Protein Concentrate on Increment in Body Weight and Microscopic Appearance of the Tibia and Alveolar Bone of Rats Fed a Wheat Flour-Containing Ration

Immature male rats fed a wheat flour-containing ration similar to diet 256 of McClure were retarded in growth and ex-hibited pathologic changes in the tibia and alveolar bone. A supplement of 8 % fish protein concentrate promoted an increment in body weight comparable to that of rats fed a natural food stock ration and pre-vented the changes in the tibia and alveolar bone. McClure ' and others2'3 have reported that immature rats fed a ration consisting of 80 % nonheat-processed whole wheat flour, 18 % dextrose, 2 % whole liver powder, and supplements of vitamins A, D, and E (diet 256) had retarded growth and, after 60 or 90 days, a high incidence of smooth surface caries. It was also observed that rats fed this diet had extensive pathologic changes in the tibias and alveolar bone.4 Diet 256 of McClure ' is deficient in a number of essen-tial nutrients. It is inadequate in total pro-tein, which is present at approximately an 11 % level in the ration, and is particularly low in the amino acid lysine. It is also defi-cient in calcium " and sodium,3 which are present at levels of approximately 0.03% and 0.01 % in the diet, respectively. In pre-liminary studies5 in which fish protein con-centrate (FPC) was incorporated in diet 256 at a 8 % level in place of an equal amount of dextrose, the FPC supplement completely counteracted the growth retar-dation and prevented the pathologic changes in the tibias and alveolar bones of rats fed This investigation was supported in part by Alpin