Effect of Alkali Treatment on the Availability of Niacin and Amino Acids in Maize

Abstract

In confirmation of the results of other workers, it has been demonstrated that rats receiving a niacin-deficient diet in which untreated maize is replaced by alkali (NaOH or CaO)-treated maize, do not develop signs of niacin deficiency. Although some niacin becomes available after prolonged boiling of maize in water more is released by a shorter alkali treatment. This could be demonstrated clearly, in growth experiments, only by using depleted rats fed on diets very low in tryptophan and explains, at least in part, some of the differences in the estimates reported by different workers for the ease of release of niacin from the bound form in maize. The growth results were supported by niacin analyses on some of the extracts. The beneficial effect of the alkali treatment could not be attributed to the correction or prevention of an amino acid imbalance but only to the release of niacin from an unavailable form.