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Response of Rats to Amino Acid Supplementation of Brown Egg Albumin¹

Department of Food & Resource Chemistry, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R. I. 02881

The effect of amino acid supplementation on the relative nutritive value (RNV) of brown egg albumin (protein:glucose 3:2; 70% RH; 37°C; 30 days) was studied in weanling male albino rats. Impaired availability of essential amino acids was found in the Maillard protein before and after dialysis by in vitro enzyme digestion and amino acid assay. Rats were fed 3, 6 and 10% protein for 21 days, and the following RNV with respect to untreated egg albumin (100) were obtained: 7.2 for dialyzed Maillard protein; 3.9 for the undialyzed brown product; 85.7 for the dialyzed Maillard protein as supplemented with all the essential amino acids that were microbiologically unavailable, and 83.9 for the undialyzed brown product supplemented as above. The protein efficiency ratio (PER) evaluation failed to detect the difference between the supplemented Maillard and the untreated proteins. From the portal vein amino acid patterns of rats fed a single meal of Maillard egg albumin it was apparent that: 1) the supply of most amino acids was decreased, and 2) lysine, arginine and isoleucine were the three least available amino acids after browning. Analysis of the total fecal nitrogen and amino acids corroborated the unavailability of most essential amino acids from brown egg albumin.

KEY WORDS: • Maillard reaction • protein digestibility • amino acid availability • RNV vs. PER

¹ Supported by NIH grant no. FD-00433-03. Contribution no. 1497 of the Rhode Island Experiment Station.

² Supported by a fellowship from the Brazilian Research Council. Present address: Facultade de Tecnologia de Alimentos, Universidad Estadual de Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

³ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 2 July 1973.