Amino Acid Balance and Imbalance

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Abstract
Observations of some effects of an amino acid imbalance on food intake and food selection of rats in different physiological states are described. The imbalance was created by adding a mixture of amino acids lacking histidine to a purified diet containing 6% of beef fibrin. Food intake was depressed when the diet in which there was an imbalance of amino acids was substituted for one containing balanced protein; and rats given a choice between the “imbalanced” diet and a protein-free diet showed a decided preference for the latter over the former. This preference became evident more quickly with nondepleted and with starved rats than had previously been observed with protein-depleted rats. Neither protein-depleted nor non-depleted rats showed a specific preference for either of 2 balanced diets which differed in nutritive value, but both groups showed a clear preference for a more balanced diet over an imbalanced diet when the 2 diets differed by only 0.05 to 0.1% of L-histidine·HCl.

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