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The Utilization of Carotene

I. As Affected by Certain Proteins in the Diet of Growing Albino Rats^1,2,

Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Biochemistry, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Baton Rouge

Comparisons were made of some effects of casein, lactalbumin, gluten and zein in isocaloric, isonitrogenous and essentially isophosphoric rations on the nutritional utilization of beta-carotene by growing albino rats.

Rats which received diets containing lactalbumin or gluten excreted more carotene in the feces than did those which received diets containing casein or zein. The rat livers associated with casein were about 20% smaller, relative to the size of the body, than the livers associated with the three other proteins, yet these smaller livers stored two to 5 times as much vitamin A as did the livers associated with lactalbumin, gluten or zein when the carotene intakes were the same for all 4 groups. Rats which received casein or lactalbumin had blood vitamin A levels about 17% higher than those of the animals which recived gluten or zein. Regardless of the protein in the diet, the blood vitamin A levels of young, rapidly growing rats were about 40% higher than those observed a few weeks later when the animals had attained maturity.

The antithetical aspects of these findings suggest that vitamin A is consumed in a liver process which transforms moieties from the ingested protein to other proteins or amino acids.

² Based upon a thesis submitted in August, 1952, by Ibrahim M. ElGindi to the Graduate Faculty of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

³ Government of Egypt Scholar. Present address: Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

Manuscript received 27 April 1953.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. H. James and I. M. ElGindi Effect of Strenuous Physical Activity on Blood Vitamin A and Carotene in Young Men Science, November 20, 1953; 118(3073): 629 - 630. [PDF]