479. Studies on the biological value of the proteins (nitrogen) of dried skim milk: effects of the addition of certain amino-acids, of age of rat and of level of protein intake

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Abstract
1. It has been shown that the biological value of undeteriorated dried skim milk is depressed to the same extent by the addition of 1·25% L-lysine as by the addition of 1·25% D-lysine. The latter is not used by the rat. It is therefore concluded that the added L-lysine is surplus to the animal's needs and that the apparent lowering of the biological value is due to excretion of the lysine in the urine.2. The slightly greater loss in the biological value of milk stored in air-pack compared with gas-pack was eliminated by the addition of 0·5% L-histidine to the former. Histidine is not a limiting amino-acid in the control or stored gas-pack milks for either young or adult rats.3. A lower biological value was found for the control milk with adult than with young rats at 4 and 8% levels of intake. No further lowering in the biological value of the stored milk, deficient in lysine, was observed with adult rats, the value obtained for this milk being independent of the age of the rat. These results are in keeping with the known lowered requirements of the adult rat for lysine.4. The significance of these findings in relation to the known amino-acid requirements of young and adult rats is discussed.