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Pancreatic Enlargement Is Evident in Rats Fed Diets Containing Raw Soybeans (Glycine max) or Cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) for 800 Days but Not in Those Fed Diets Based on Kidney Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) or Lupinseed (Lupinus angustifolius)^1,2,3,

The Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB, Scotland, U.K.

Pancreatic weights and composition were studied with rats fed diets containing raw legume seeds for up to 800 d. Rapid pancreatic enlargement was induced by dietary soybeans (Glycine max) (high Kunitz and Bowman-Birk trypsin inhibitor contents, moderate lectin content) during the initial 150 d. Over the next 200 d the rate of pancreatic growth was similar to that in controls. After 350 d a second period of rapid pancreatic growth occurred. Macroscopic pancreatic nodules were evident in a number of rats fed soybeans for 500 d or more. A similar pattern of pancreatic growth was observed in rats fed dietary cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) (high Bowman-Birk inhibitor content, low lectin content). Extensive pancreatic growth was also found in young rats fed moderate dietary levels of kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) (low Bowman-Birk inhibitor content, high lectin content). However, the trophic effects diminished with time, and from 100 d onwards, little enlargement was evident. Consumption of a lupinseed (Lupinus angustifolius) diet (low trypsin inhibitor, low lectin content) did not cause pancreatic enlargement. The initial pancreatic growth induced by dietary soybeans seemed to be due to the lectins and trypsin inhibitors, whereas the second period of pancreatic growth was possibly due primarily to the trypsin inhibitors.

KEY WORDS: • rats • soybeans • cowpeas • kidney beans • lupinseed

¹ Presented in part at the Sixth Asian Congress of Nutrition, September 1991, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia [Grant, G., Dorward, P. M., Bardocz, S. & Pusztai, A. (1991) Pancreas enlargement induced in rats by dietary legume proteins: short- and long-term effects (abs.)] and at the First Anglo-French Symposium on Human and Animal Nutrition, September 1992, Rennes, France [Grant, G., Dorward, P. M., Bardocz, S. & Pusztai, A. (1992) Pancreas enlargement induced in rats by long-term consumption of dietary legume proteins (abs.)].

² Supported by the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department.

³ The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

⁴ To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed.

Manuscript received 14 April 1993. Initial review completed 1 June 1993. Revision accepted 4 August 1993.