Improving the Nutritive Value of Cereal Grains I. Improvement in the Efficiency of the Proteins in Milled Wheat Flour with Lysine, Valine, Threonine and an Extract from Condensed Fish Solubles

Abstract

A study was made, using the albino rat as the experimental animal, of the influence of additions of the amino acids, lysine, valine and threonine, and an extract from condensed fish solubles, on the efficiency of the proteins in vitamin-enriched milled wheat flour. It was found that the additions of such micronutrients changed the protein efficiency ratio of the proteins in white flour from 0.68 to 3.11. On the basis of similar nitrogen intake, the basal diet, containing proteins derived from milled wheat, supplemented with lysine, threonine, valine and an extract from condensed fish solubles, approximately equalled the biological value, from the standpoint of growth, of a ration containing proteins derived from dried non-fat milk solids. Lysine and threonine were found to play a significant specific role in economy of food utilization, which was determined by controlled feeding experiments. As little as 0.1 µg of vitamin B₁₂ per animal per day, supplementing the ration containing lysine, was followed by appreciable increases of body weight in male rats, during a 12-week experimental period, but no noteworthy increases in growth were observed in the female rats on the vitamin B₁₂-supplemented ration. The increased growth in the male rats was due largely to greater food consumption.