Biochemical and Nutritional Effects of Rice, Barley, and Millet on Rats

백미대맥(白米大麥) 및 속(粟) 사료(飼料)가 실험용(實驗用) 백서(白鼠)에 미치는 영양학적(營養學的) 및 생물화학적(生物化學的) 연구(硏究)

Dividing into six(6) experimental groups; Stock Diet(SD) Group, Rice Diet(RD) Group, Rice Diet supplemented with Barley(RD-BD) Group, Barley Diet(BD) Group, Rice Diet supplemented with Millet(RD-MD) Group, and Millet Diet(MD) Group, biochemical and nutritional effects of rice, barley, and millet on rats are studied. The grains used in this experiment are polished ones and purchased from market. Six(6) weaning male albino rats are housed into the individual cages in each group and fed with each experimental diet and water ad libitum for 21 weeks. The composition of the experimental diets are shown in Table 1. At the end of experiment, the appearences of rats are observed and the bloods are sampled by heart puncture method following ether anesthesia for determinations of serum protein and serum cholesterol. And the livers are sampled immediately right after heart after heart puncture for determinations of liver weight, liver nitrogen, liver fat, and liver glycogen. And also liver tissues are observed histologically. The result of growth experiment is shown in Table 2 and Figure 7. The results of blood analysis are shown in Table 3 and the results of liver analysis are shown in Table 4. And the histological observations of liver tissue are shown in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. According to the above results, it could be summarized as follows; 1) The normal appearences are observed at SD Group and BD Group. Alopecia is observed at RD, RD-­BD, RD-MD, and MD groups and the wet appearences of hair are observed at RD-MD and MD groups. The color of hair is changed to yellowish white at RD, RD-MD groups. The maximum growth inhibition, is observed at MD group and the growths of RD, RD-BD, BD, and RD-MD groups are significantly lower than that of SD group. The growth of RD group is lower than those of RD-BD and BD groups, though this difference is not significant. 2) At the blood analysis, the highest serum protein content is shown at SD group and the lowest serum protein is observed at MD group. The serum cholesterol contents are not significantly different among the six(6) experimental groups. 3) The highest liver weight is observed at SD group and the lowest weight is shown at MD group. However, oppositely the highest liver weight per 100 grams of body weight at MD group and the lowest liver weight per 100 grams of body weight at SD group are observed as shown in Table 6. 4) The differences of liver nitrogen contents of RD, RB-BD, BD, RD-MD, and MD Groups are not significant except SD group showing the highest content. 5) The significant highest content of liver fat is observed at RD group and the lowest content of liver fat is shown at SD group. And no significant differences in contents of liver glycogen are observed among the six(6) experimental groups. 6) No significant abnormal histological changes of liver tissue are observed at SD, RD-BD, and BD groups. However, the fat metamorphosis at peripheral zone of liver tissue is observed at RD Group and the some histological abnormal changes are observed at RD-MD and MD groups. According to the above summaries, the followings might be estimated and recommended; 1) The BD group shows histological normality of liver tissue, improvement of liver fat and liver nitrogen, normality of appearence, and better growth compared with RD Group. This could be indicated that barley is nutritionally and biochemically better than rice as the feeding diet on rat. And it might be considered that there might be the species speciality for nutritionary evaluation of food. 2) Recently, Marshall indicated that the high consumption of carbohydrate causes fatty liver and Kondo reported that the higher consumption of rice causes the more heart disease and the shorter life span. Considering these reports, the higher consumption of rice as a main dish in our country should be considered as an important national nutritional problem. And this might be improved by supplementing with barley or other grains to rice.