The Effect of the Level of Fat in the Diet upon Utilization of Vitamin A

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Abstract
The influence of the level of fat in isocaloric basal diets upon the utilization of vitamin A has been studied by means of rate of growth and incidence of accumulations of keratinized cells or “abscesses” in carefully controlled triads of rats. Inclusion of 10% of fat in the basal diet aided absorption of vitamin A sufficiently to produce statistically significant gains in weight over a basal diet containing no fat, but not over a basal diet containing 5% of fat. For the levels of fat and units of vitamin A intake used in this experiment, unitage of vitamin intake was a more important factor in the production of highly significant gains in weight than level of dietary fat. Growth in length was not affected by level of fat in the basal diet, but a significant increase in length was obtained by increased vitamin A intake. The level of fat in the basal diet showed no statistically significant influence upon “abscesses,” at the levels of fat and vitamin intake used in this experiment. Administration of 1, 3, or 6 International Units of vitamin A to groups of animals produced highly significant reductions in number of “abscesses” as compared to incidence of “abscesses” in groups receiving no vitamin A, although there were no statistically significant differences in number of such areas between these levels of vitamin A.