Protein and the dietary production of fatty livers

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Rats were fed for 21 days on diets containing 40% beef dripping, 5% salt mixture, 5% marmite and fat-extracted casein, 0, 5, 10, 20, 30 and 50%, the variation being at the expense of glucose. These diets were almost choline-free, each rat receiving only 1.5 mgm. choline per day, present in the marmite. Fatty livers (12.49%) resulted in the rats which received 5% protein without loss in body wt. The rats receiving no protein lost wt. rapidly and the results were thus not of real value. The fat content of the livers of the other groups decreased with increasing protein content of the diet, indicating a control of liver glyceride by the protein content of the diet, quite apart from any action of choline. This was confirmed by an exp. on the "cholesterol" fatty liver, in which 2 groups of rats received diets containing 20% beef dripping, 2% cholesterol, 5% marmite, 5% salt mixture, 5% and 50% extracted casein, and 65% and 40% glucose. The livers of the group receiving 5% protein contained 25.42% glyceride, 4.42% cholesteryl oleate and 1.79% lecithin, while the other group (30% protein) contained 5.54% glyceride, 7.91% cholesteryl oleate and 2.5% lecithin. No relationship appeared between the extent of fatty infiltration in the liver and the amt. of fat in the depots.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: