The Nutritional Value of a Synthetic Diet Sterilized by Gamma Rays, as Measured by Reproduction and Life Span of Rats

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Abstract
Four generations of rats were used to determine the nutritional properties of a diet treated with sterilizing doses of ionizing radiation from fission products. In the reproduction study a total of 80 females receiving the irradiated diet produced 3467 young and weaned 84.7% of 2993 young which were allowed to remain with their mothers. The same number of females receiving the control diet produced 3290 young and weaned 90.9% of 2923 young. The average weight of young from mothers receiving the control diet was approximately 3 gm more than that of those from mothers receiving the irradiated diets. The life span of the animals in both groups was essentially the same. In general, the data showed that the nutritional value of the irradiated diet was slightly less than that of the non-irradiated, but the difference was very small, and probably would be of comparatively little practical importance.

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