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Self Selection of Diet

IX. The Appetite for Thiamine¹

Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Rats suffering from thiamine deficiency show a preference for diets containing as little as 0.1 and as much as 1000 p.p.m. of thiamine. The appetite for thiamine-containing foods was not universal in thiamine-deficient rats and a small minority always made a poor choice. Rats fed a diet with a critically low concentration of thiamine were in better condition than rats offered a choice between this diet and a thiamine-free diet. Appetite for thiamine-containing foods was not established until the animals were distinctly deficient as judged by weight gain and food intake. It was concluded that while the learned appetite for thiamine can lead to better nutrition than would wholly random eating, it can at best only approach, and under critical conditions fails to approach, the benefit obtained by obligatory eating of a diet prescribed on the basis of known requirements.

Manuscript received 6 August 1948.