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Gastrointestinal Gas Production in Rats as Influenced by Some Animal and Vegetable Diets, Sulfiting, and Antibiotic Supplementation¹

Quartermaster Food and Container Institute for the Armed Forces, Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command, U. S. Army, Chicago, Illinois

The magnitude and composition of gastrointestinal gas production in rats fed several products of animal and plant origin is reported. The effect of sulfiting the vegetable products, the supplementation of several diets with wide spectrum antibiotics, and the production of gases from a diet of known chemical composition is also discussed. Dietary effects were evaluated at the 40% level of the diet 4 hours after the seventh daily feeding.

The highest production of intestinal gases was observed for rats fed the dried skim milk. The production from beef, pork, egg and casein was less than one-third that of the dried skim milk. The production of intestinal gases by carrots, cabbage and lima beans was higher than for the 4 animal products with the increased production attributed to an increase in carbon dioxide. Sulfiting reduced the production particularly from the cabbage diet where an apparent manifestation of toxicity occurred.

An amino acid diet and an amino acid supplemented, wheat gluten diet gave a higher gas production than did the vegetable products. The increase with these diets and also with the dried skim milk diet was largely attributed to increased hydrogen production.

Supplementation with a neomycin-nystatin mixture decreased carbon dioxide production. A volume decrease was observed with the dried skin milk diet, but was not seen with the casein or red bean diet because of an increased intestinal (cecal) size.

Dietary responses for the stomach gases were minimal.

Manuscript received 31 March 1962.

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