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Protein Deficiency and Carbohydrate Tolerance of the Infant Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus)¹

Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115

In order to investigate a syndrome of glucosuria, hyperglycemia, coma and death found in infant squirrel monkeys fed protein-deficient diets, 48 infants were studied in four experiments related to carbohydrate metabolism. In 12 infants fed a diet containing 2.3% of the calories as protein for a 12-day period, glucosuria and hyperglycemia appeared within 6 days. Animals prefed a commercial milk-based diet were more severely affected than those prefed a laboratory diet containing sucrose and dextrin as the carbohydrate source. Another 16 infants were given oral glucose tolerance tests following 3-week dietary periods during which three levels of dietary protein (2.3, 4.6, and 12.9% of calories) were fed. It was shown that glucose intolerance appeared when animals were fed the diet containing 2.3% of the calories as protein but not 4.6 or 12.9%. Glucose tolerance did not vary with the two levels of fat fed. In two additional experiments utilizing 21 and 6 infants, it was demonstrated that the caloric intake of malnourished infants was comparable to the control intakes and that a decrease in food consumption was not the cause of the observed symptoms.

KEY WORDS: • squirrel monkey • protein deficiency • carbohydrate metabolism • hyperglycemia • glucosuria

¹ Supported in part by Public Health Service Research Grants HE-10098, AM-09520, GM-00333 and K6-AM-18455 and the Fund for Research and Teaching, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health.

Manuscript received 5 April 1972.