1. Sixty-four subjects from the rural areas of Ibadan participated in a study to determine the contribution of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) foods to the total intake of nutrients in a mixed diet. The subjects were randomly selected from those who, according to their mothers, reacted to cowpea foods (reactors) and those who did not (non-reactors).

2. The results showed that for all subjects, protein, energy and riboflavin needs were not met from the total diet consumed. However, the requirements for vitamin A, thiamin and iron were met.

3. Between 30 months and 3 years of age, cowpeas contributed 36.2 and 30.3 % of protein intake for nonreactors and reactors respectively. Corresponding values for energy intake were 17.3 and 17.2 % respectively. Lower percentages were contributed by the diets of 4- to 6-year-olds.

4. Irrespective of the classification system used, some of the subjects were found to be suffering from mild to moderate malnutrition, with a few severe cases.

1. Four groups of adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were fed for 6 weeks on a diet with a low-fat content (50 g/kg) and another four groups were given a diet rich in fat (250 g/kg) and cholesterol (12 g/kg). In both cases, the basal diets were either fibre-depleted or supplemented with cellulose (60 g/kg), wheat bran (100 g/kg) or low-methoxyl pectin (100 g/kg).

2. Low-methoxyl pectin displayed the most hypocholesterolaemic effect and decreased the cholesterol content of the very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL), when the low-fat diet was given. When rats were fed on the high-fat diet, pectin no longer had a hypocholesterolaemic effect but still decreased the VLDL-cholesterol content. Pectin lowered serum triglyceride and VLDL-trigylceride levels only when the low-fat diet was given.

3. Wheat bran exerted no hypocholesterolaemic effect in rats fed on the low- and high-fat diets, but decreased the cholesterol content of VLDL and lowered serum triglycerides and VLDL-tryglycerides when the high-fat diet was given.

4. Purified cellulose had no significant effect on plasma lipids.

5. As shown by multivariance analysis, low-methoxyl pectin and wheat bran both beneficially modified the serum triglyceride and cholesterol variables except VLDL-triglycerides. However, the magnitude of the effect of each individual type of fibre was dependent on the fat and cholesterol content of the diet, suggesting the existence of different mechanisms of action.

1. Various biochemical variables of the skins of rat dams and their fetuses in which protein-energy malnutrition was induced during pregnancy were analysed.

2. One group of dams was fed on a 200 g protein/kg diet as a control and the other was fed on a 60 g protein/kg diet as an experimental group. Each group of dams was fed from day 13 of gestation until day 22.

3. Water, protein and hexosamine concentrations of the fetal skins in the malnourished group were greater than those in the control group, whereas in the dams′ skins, protein concentration was greater in the malnourished group than in the control group.

4. Extractability of collagen with neutral salt and pepsin showed no difference between the groups in the skins of fetuses and dams. The content of type III collagen in the fetal skin did not differ between the groups, but was increased in the malnourished dams′ skins compared with that of the control group.

5. The present study showed that protein-energy malnutrition during pregnancy significantly affects the metabolism of the skin in both fetuses and their dams. Furthermore, the skins of fetuses and dams are structurally altered in different ways by this nutritional stress.

1. Anthropometric variables, resting heart rate and respiratory gas exchange were measured in twelve male and nine female Asiatic adult Moslems during the month of Ramadan, the week before and the month after Ramadan.

2. Energy intakes were estimated from dietary recall during fasting and non-fasting conditions.

3. Both male and female subjects experienced a decrease in body mass with the reduction in energy intake during fasting. Males experienced a greater reduction than females in resting heart rate; females lost more body weight and subcutaneous fat than males.

4. Urine output and fluid intake were measured in twelve male subjects for 1 d during each week of fasting and 1 d during the pre-fasting control period. Among the subjects examined, the Ramadan regimen did not result in changes in the pattern of fluid exchange.

1. In developing countries, malnutrition begins during pregnancy and lactation. Glucose intolerance is a problem of importance during protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). We therefore studied glucose homeostasis in rats weaned from undernourished mothers.

2. On weaning, 156 mde Wistar rats, born from deprived mothers (75 g casein/kg diet), were fed ad lib on either a balanced diet (180 g casein/kg; group DR), or a protein-deficient diet (50 g casein/kg; group DD). At seven time intervals (weeks 0, 1, 3, 5, 8, 16 and 23) twelve rats were weighed, fasted overnight and then decapitated. Blood glucose, plasma insulin (IRI) and glucagon (IRG) levels and pancreatic insulin and glucagon contents were determined.

3. In DR and DD rats blood glucose, which was normal at weaning, dropped in the 1st week and then increased slowly. DR rats were hyperglycaemic from week 16. IRI continually increased during the experiment from near-normal values to hyperinsulinic levels in DR rats; in group DD, it remained stable until week 8 before increasing. IRG, which was very low at weaning, increased to normal levels in the 1st week in group DR; in group DD, it fell slightly during the study. Pancreatic hormone contents were much higher than after normal pregnancy and lactation.

4. We compared these results with those of a previous study with rats born from normal mothers: at weaning in the second experiment the rats were already well adapted to malnutrition. The plasma ratio IRI:IRG in DD rats showed two phases of adaptation: weeks 0–5 when glucose homeostasis did not change and weeks 5–23 when it became increasingly normal. At the end of the experiment DR rats still had a lower body-weight than normal rats but were insulin-resistant.

1. Groups of four conventional (CV) rats ate natural or purified diets either with or without 100 g fat/kg and drank 0.235 M-sodium nitrate. The fats tested were butterfat, coconut oil, olive oil, maize oil and safflower oil.

2. Decreased urinary excretion of N-nitrosoproline (NPRO) was observed in rats fed on fat-supplemented diets compared with those fed on low-fat diets, with butterfat having the greatest effect of the fats tested.

3. Reduced excretion of NPRO was not the result of inhibition of the intragastric N-nitrosation reaction or absorption of nitrosamine from the gastrointestinal tract.

4. The availability of nitrite in aqueous solution was decreased by the fat diets but the effect was similar in all the fats tested.

5. Nitrate reductase activity was present in the forestomach contents of CV rats at pH > 4 and was apparently inhibited by feeding a fat diet. No nitrate reductase activity was detected in stomach contents of germ-free rats.

6. Nitrate reductase activity in stomach and small intestinal tissue was not altered by feeding a fat diet.

7. It was concluded that nitrate reductase activity in stomach contents was of microbial origin and the decreased urinary excretion of NPRO on feeding the fat diets was mainly due to the inhibition of nitrate reductase activity in stomach contents.

1. The absorption of zinc in humans from composite meals, was determined by extrinsic labelling of the meals with 65Zn and measurement of the whole-body retention of the radioisotope.

2. Low-Zn (mean 25 μmol) chicken meals with 150 g white bread or 225 g potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage or green peas were studied. The effect of a beet-pulp-fibre preparation used as a breakfast cereal, in bread and as a meat extender on Zn absorption was also studied.

3. The mean percentage absorption from the chicken meals with white bread, carrots and cabbage was significantly different from the meals with potatoes, turnips and green peas. When the amount of Zn in the meals was taken into account a slightly higher absorption was observed from the white-bread meal compared with the meals with potatoes and cabbage, while no differences were seen between the vegetable meals.

4. The beet-pulp-fibre preparation did not affect the extent of Zn absorption when used as a meat extender. The absorption of Zn was higher when the beet fibre was included in bread than when used as muesli.

5. The results obtained suggest that, besides the low-Zn content in vegetables, a large intake of vegetables or a pure-vegetable-fibre preparation has no significant effect on Zn availability from animal-protein-based meals.

1. The hypothesis that the availability of zinc in a food is limited by factors in the food was tested against the hypothesis that Zn absorption is homeostatically regulated by the body according to its need for Zn.

2. The experimental model used was the short-term administration to rats of a parenteral nutrition solution with no added Zn in an attempt to increase their need for Zn in an anabolic phase.

3. The absorption and retention of 65Zn from a piece of endosperm-wheat crisp-bread in rats injected intraperitoneally with the parenteral nutrition solution was more than 40% higher than that in a control group injected with physiological saline (9 g sodium chloride/l).

4. The results indicate that the availability of Zn in the bread is not fixed but variable and dependent on the body's need for Zn.

1. Homogenized and diluted faeces (66.6 g/l) collected from one human source on three different months was incubated with four standard substrates (oat bran, wheat bran, red kidney beans (Phuseolus vulgaris) and guar gum) for 4, 8, 12 and 24 h.

2. Neutral-detergent fibre and organic matter (OM) digestibility measurements and gas production (ml gas/g OM) were influenced by substrate and incubation period but not by day of collection.

3. Production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) (mmol/g OM) was a function of substrate and incubation period but not day of collection at 4, 8 and 12 h. Rapidly fermentable substrates such as red kidney beans and guar gum did not ferment beyond 12 h and SCFA values were not different at 24 h.

4. Substrates differed in amount, rate and type of SCFA produced.

5. The results indicate that human faeces collected on different occasions were sufficiently uniform to yield similar in vitro fermentation findings among collections. Therefore, it is concluded that human faecal material is a practical source of micro-organisms to evaluate the fermentation properties of substrates.

1. The effect on pancreatic digestive enzyme levels of fasting and changes from a diet containing trypsin inhibitor (raw soya-bean flour, RSF) to diets free of trypsin inhibitor (heated soya-bean flour, HSF, or commercial rat chow) was studied in rats for up to 7 d.

2. In RSF-fed rats killed without fasting, enzyme levels were low, but after fasting for 24 h before killing there was a marked increase in all enzyme levels. Histological studies showed that pancreatic acinar cells from RSF-fed rats killed without fasting were devoid of zymogen granules, but following a 24 h fast there was a marked accumulation of zymogen granules which extend into the basal cytoplasm. Fasting either produced no change or a fall in enzyme levels in rats fasted after feeding HSF or chow continuously.

3. If animals fed on RSF were changed to HSF and either fed or fasted for 24 h up to the time of killing there was an increase in amylase (EC 3. 2. 1. 1), trypsin (EC 3. 4. 21. 4), lipase (triacylglycerol lipase; EC 3. 1. 1. 3) and protein 1 d after the change, followed by a fall over the next 6 d to levels similar to those seen in rats fed on HSF continuously.

4. Animals changed from RSF to chow showed similar effects as far as trypsin, lipase and protein were concerned, but amylase rose, to reach the level seen in rats fed on chow continuously (about ten times that seen in soya-bean-fed rats), after 2 d.

5. These results suggest that in the rats fed on RSF, pancreatic enzyme synthesis is rapid but secretion is equally rapid and intracellular enzyme levels are low. When these animals are fasted or changed to a diet free of trypsin inhibitor the rate of secretion falls but the high rate of synthesis continues for at least 24 h and enzymes accumulate in the pancreas. In studies of pancreatic enzyme levels in rats fed on trypsin inhibitor the extent of fasting before killing the animal is therefore an important variable. Such animals should probably not be fasted before study.

1. Male Wistar rats (approximately 100 g) were given fibre-free semi-synthetic diets containing either casein or albumin (168 g/kg diet) as the protein source with or without guar gum (75 g/kg diet) (casein, albumin, casein- guar gum and albumin-guar gum groups).

2. Small intestinal length, weights of caecal tissue and contents and plasma enteroglucagon concentration were significantly increased in guar-gum-fed animals compared with the fibre-free groups.

3. Total caecal weight and plasma enteroglucagon concentration were higher in the albumin-guar gum group compared with the casein-guar gum group. The weights of caecal tissue and contents were significantly increased in rats given the fibre-free albumin diet compared with those consuming a similar diet with casein as the protein source, although daily food intake tended to be lower.

4. It is concluded that the effect of materials classed as dietary fibre may be significantly influenced by the non- polysaccharide component of the diet, and that such interactions may influence both the growth and endocrine activity of the gastrointestinal tract.

1. Four groups of rat pups were reared: mother-reared (MR) control (well-fed) and undernourished (MRC and MRU respectively) and artificially reared (AR) control and undernourished (ARC and ARU respectively). Pups for artificial rearing were fitted with a gastric cannula on postnatal day 5 and were fed, by intermittent gastric infusion, expressed rats′ milk (days 5–7), mixtures of rats′ milk and milk-substitute (days 8–16), and milk-substitute only (days 17–20). Solid food was available to MR pups throughout and to AR pups from day 14. Undernutrition, imposed from postnatal days 5 to 25, was effected initially by underfeeding the mother (MRU) or by infusing restricted quantities of milk (ARU). Weaning was at 21 d and undernutrition from day 21 to day 25 was by restricting the supply of solid food. All rats were fed ad lib. from 25 d.

2. The developmental milestone, eye-opening, was delayed by undernutrition but unaffected by artificial rearing.

3. Growth curves in body-weight during the refeeding phase were influenced most by previous undernutrition and to a lesser extent (also negatively) by artificial rearing.

4. Fourteen measures of body and organ growth were taken at autopsy at 39 weeks. Twelve measures were affected by nutrition and only four by rearing (weight of whole body, epididymal fat pads, renal fat pads and adrenals).

5. AR rats had lighter epididymal and renal fat pads than MR rats perhaps due to the low fat content of the expressed milk they received early in artificial rearing.

1. A combination of isotope-dilution and arterio-venous difference techniques was used to determine rates of leucine metabolism and protein synthesis and degradation in a hind-limb preparation (predominantly muscle) and the whole body of eight lambs fed on milk to appetite and eight lambs fasted from 24 to 48 h.

2. Compared with fed lambs, fasted lambs showed decreased rates of protein synthesis in both whole body and hind-limb, and in hind-limb muscle, elevated rates of protein degradation.

3. The effects of two rates of insulin infusion on whole-body and hind-limb-muscle leucine metabolism, and in turn on protein metabolism, were determined. Insulin had no significant effect on leucine flux or oxidation (and hence protein synthesis and degradation) in whole-body or hind-limb muscle of fed lambs. In fasted lambs insulin progressively reduced arterial leucine concentration and whole-body leucine flux and oxidation, indicating a reduction in both protein synthesis and degradation. Insulin reduced the rate of leucine efflux from hind-limb muscle, which was followed by a reduction in leucine uptake. Insulin increased hind-limb-muscle glucose uptake in both fed and fasted lambs.

4. On the basis that hind-limb muscle was representative of skeletal muscle in general, we estimated that muscle accounted for the same percentage (about 27) of whole-body protein synthesis in both fed and fasted lambs. This percentage was unaffected by infusion of insulin, although the absolute rates differed in fed and fasted lambs.

1. Two groups of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus uethiops) were fed on high-cholesterol diets which differed only with respect to the protein source. In one group casein was the only protein source, while the other group received only soya-bean protein.

2. Samples of blood, bile and liver biopsy material were collected at the commencement of the study and at 3-monthly intervals until termination 12 months later.

3. At the end of the experimental period all the animals (n 19) had high plasma cholesterol levels and had developed pigment gallstones, the compositions and weights of which were not related to the protein source or to plasma cholesterol levels. Gallstone weight was related to the presence of acidic and sulphated mucins in gallbladder mucosa. We were also unable to confirm the hypocholesterolaemic effect of soya-bean protein which has been demonstrated previously in rhesus monkeys and hamsters. Bile composition, and plasma lipids did not differ significantly between the casein-fed and soya-bean fed animals. Lithogenic index was below 1 for both groups and did not differ significantly between the two groups.

4. No significant difference was found in the severity ofcholelithiasis between the casein-fed and the soya-bean-fed animals.

1. The effect of dietary protein and energy restriction on heat production and growth costs has been examined in rats fed on a marginal (MP) or high (HP) protein diet, containing 9.2 % or 22 % respectively of the gross energy content as casein. Diets were given either ad fib. or at approximately 25, 50 or 75 % of the ad lib. intake.

2. Heat production (kJ/kg body-weight (W)0.75 per d) was increased by 23% in rats fed on the MP diet ad Lib., as compared with their HP controls (P < 0.01).

3. Factorial analysis of the data showed that the overall cost of energy deposition (kJ/kJ; Ee) was elevated on the MP diet (MP 1.7, HP 1.28; P < 0.001). Maintenance requirements (kJ/kg W0.75 per d) for zero energy balance were unchanged (MP 562, HP 573).

The partial energy cost of protein deposition (Ep) varied with dietary manipulation. If the partial energy cost of fat deposition (Ef) was assumed constant at 1.25 kJ/kJ, and maintenance requirements were assumed to vary with metabolic body size (W0.75), Ep was elevated on the MP diet. On both diets, Ep was reduced at low energy intakes.

5. The significance of these results is discussed in the context of current approaches to the analysis and interpretation of findings describing dietary induced changes in the rate of heat production.

1. Quadruplicate groups of rainbow trout (Sulmo gairdneri) (mean body-weight 24.9 g) were reared on six dietary treatments (practical-type diets) in a modified paired-feeding experiment for 12 weeks at 15° to determine the net energy (NE) value of starch and glucose to rainbow trout.

2. Three test diets were prepared to contain (g/kg): 0 supplemented carbohydrate (diet 1), 250 maize starch (diet 2) and 250 glucose (diet 3) and were given ad lib. to the trout with the feeding rate of the glucose- and starchfed groups being monitored after each feeding. The remaining three treatments involved controlled feeding of the trout with diet 1 at 75% of the feed intake of trout reared on diets 2 and 3, so as to provide the same levels of protein and lipids without carbohydrate, and with diet 2 at 100% of the feed intake of trout reared on diet 3.

3. The difference in the final carcass energy of the ad lib.-fed group and the respective controlled-fed group divided by the amount of dietary glucose or starch energy consumed by the trout is the NE value for that carbohydrate.

4. The determined NE value of glucose was 3.99 kJ/g and starch 2.17 kJ/g, which is 24.6 and 12.6% respectively of the gross energy values of these carbohydrates in rainbow trout.

5. The results indicate that digestible energy and calculated metabolizable energy values for carbohydrates in rainbow trout overestimate the utilizable energy content of the diet.

6. The determined NE values for glucose and starch in the present study should be used with caution since various factors (such as the feeding rate determined in the present study) may affect the utilization of dietary carbohydrates in rainbow trout.

1. A previously reported rumen in vitro system (Broderick, 1978) was modified to include chloramphenicol (CAP) with hydrazine sulphate (HS) to give quantitative recovery of protein breakdown products. Degradation rates were determined by regression v. time of log proportion remaining undegraded (computed by subtracting from added nitrogen the amount of N recovered as ammonia and amino acids). Concentrations of reagents giving optimal N recoveries and estimated degradation rates for casein and expeller soya-bean-meal (SBM) were: 1.0 mM-HS, 30 μg CAP/ml, 20 mM-mercaptoethanol, 3.3 mg maltose/ml, when protein was added at 0125 mg N/ml.

2. Digestion of azo-casein and azo-albumin, solubilization of radioactivity from 14C-labelled casein, ovalbumin and bovine serum albumin (BSA), and hydrolysis of benzoyl-L-tyrosine p-nitroanilide and benzoyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide were not significantly decreased by HS and CAP. This suggests that the inhibitors did not reduce microbial proteolysis.

3. Mean fractional degradation rates (/h) were: 0395 casein, 0.135 BSA, 0.159 solvent-SBM, 0.045 expeller-SBM, 0.061 meat meal, 0070 lucerne (Medicago sativa) hay. Extents of protein escape, estimated assuming rumen passage of 0.06/h, were 13, 28, 56 and 40% for casein, solvent-SBM, expeller-SBM and lucerne hay respectively. This method appears more reliable for assessing rumen degradability than buffer N solubility and protein digestibility with ficin protease.

4. Azo-dye treatment slowed the rate of casein degradation, measured by ammonia plus amino acid release, but did not alter digestion of BSA.

5. The validity of the inhibitor in vitro method for estimating protein degradability, as well as potential problems in its application, are discussed. The complete procedure may be limited to laboratories with automated analytical equipment, but a simplified version of the method may be more generally applicable.

1. Protease and deaminase activities and the metabolism of peptides were measured in rumen fluid from ciliate- free sheep and from sheep with a limited population of small entodinia. The same measurements were repeated following inoculation of the latter group with a more typical mixed ciliate population.

2. Protease and dialanine uptake activities of mixed rumen micro-organisms were not significantly influenced by protozoa. Trialanine uptake, leucine aminopeptidase (EC 3.4.11. 1), deaminase and trypsin-like protease activities were 70, 107,73 and 91 % higher with the limited population, and 72,58,64 and 55 % higher when mixed protozoa were present, indicating a major role for the protozoa in these activities.

1. Merino sheep fed on a diet of chopped wheaten hay, chopped lucerne (Medicago saliva) hay and oat grain were the source of rumen contents for the study. The diet contained (mg/kg dry weight) 3.3 copper, 0.24 molybdenum and 2.8 sulphur. The effects of adding between 5 and 25 mg Mo/kg as ammonium molybdate (AM) or tetrathiomolybdate (TTM) on the distribution and forms of Cu and Mo in rumen contents were investigated in vivo and in vitro.

2. Approximately 88 % of the Cu and 94% of the Mo in rumen contents were associated with the solid phase. When AM or TTM was added to rumen contents in vivo or in vitro the proportion of these elements in the solid phase was increased at the expense of the fluid phase.

3. The addition of AM and TTM to rumen contents also decreased the proportion of Cu that was soluble in trichloroacetic acid (50 g/l; TCA) and increased the proportion of Cu that was not extractable by sequential treatment with TCA and neutral detergent.

4. Column chromatography of neutral-detergent extracts of rumen contents revealed that TTM treatment caused Cu to be strongly bound to proteins of high molecular weight.

5. Addition of sulphide to rumen contents did not result in significant changes in the distribution of Cu between the fluid and solid phases, or in the solubility of Cu in TCA.

6. It is postulated that constant removal of TTM from the fluid phase via reaction with proteins and other macromolecules in the solid phase results in greater formation of TTM in vivo than would be expected from solution chemistry. The molybdo-proteins so formed are strong chelators of Cu and may be the agents responsible for the decrease in Cu absorption in animals that consume diets containing high concentrations of Mo.

1. Effects of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) on epithelial proliferation of the intestine were studied in ileally fistulated rats fed on an elemental diet.

2. The stimulatory effect of daily doses of acetic, propionic and n-butyric acids (100,20 and 60 mM respectively; pH 6.1) per fistula (3 ml, twice daily) on crypt cell production rate (CCPR) appeared within 2 d and lasted for at least 5 d.

3. The daily doses of SCFA for 14 d increased daily CCPR three to four fold. This effect was independent of the presence of gut bacteria.

4. Effects of SCFA were dose-dependent and varied among acids (butyrate > propionate > acetate). The effect was independent of low lumen pH.

5. In contrast, SCFA inhibited epithelial proliferation of isolated rat caecal tissue in vitro.

6. These results suggest that SCFA are physiological lumen trophic factors mediated by a systemic mechanism in vivo.

7. It is concluded that SCFA are involved in the trophic effects of gut microbes, ingestion of fermentable fibre, and lumen contents.